Based on a true story The Invisible Mile tells the poignant story of five Australian and New Zealand cyclists who in 1928 formed the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France. They were gallant, under-resourced and badly outnumbered but taken deep to the heart by the French nation. The novel describes in a wonderful poetic and visceral voice what it was like to ride in this race (the chaos, danger and rivalries), the extraordinary lengths to which the riders pushed themselves, suffering horrific injuries, riding through the night in pitch dark, and the ways they staved off the pain, through camaraderie, through sexual conquest, through drink, and through drugs (cocaine for energy, opium for pain).

Added to the team is the fictional narrator who is cycling towards his demons in a northern France still scarred by the First World War. His brother was a fighter pilot damaged by his experiences in France, his sister has died, and this self-imposed test of endurance is slowly and painfully bringing him to his final, invisible mile where memory eventually comes to collide with the past

'A wonderfully colourful and attentive novel that subtly combines the tangible pains of the race with the echoes of war' Sunday Express In 1928, five cyclists from Australia and New Zealand made history by forming the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France. This group sets off on a 5,476 kilometre journey that sees them ride out beyond their limits. No one is certain they will make it to the finish line - least of all our narrator, a New Zealander racing on a dangerous mix of drink, drugs and damaged memories. Travelling through a northern France still scarred by the First World War, his self-imposed test of endurance takes him ever closer to his own final, invisible mile. A visceral, psychological novel, The Invisible Mile is an extraordinary re-imagining of the race as a mediation on memory, on the creation of mythology, history, guilt and love. 'The Invisible Mile relates this odyssey with symbolic force and poetic finesse' Sydney Morning Herald 'Revealing the force of man's courage and will in the face of physical and psychological challenge, this is a brave and beautiful novel' Megan Bradbury, author of Everyone is Watching 'A blood, sweat and tears odyssey that becomes a searing hinterland for returning memories, absence and loss. Mesmerizing' Alan McMonagle, author of Ithaca