Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen, Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication ( Hybrid: Melbourne, August 2024, $24.99)

It isn’t always in the headlines but in Australia our treatment of the elderly needs our urgent attention. Occasionally politicians and others cast an eye in the direction of this subject but it warrants so much more.So after collaborating on a suite of political satires my co-author Ian McFadyen and I  decided to change tack to address an issue that could well be the next big inconvenient truth – the disgrace of our treatment of the …

Some thoughts on Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication(Hybrid Publishers: Melbourne, $24.99)

“It’s a great read, funny, wry and just cynical enough but with a strain of hope throughout that reflects reality.” – Bridget Shapter

“Chalk and Cheese  is a work of brilliantly cinematic quality.” –Nigel Marsh, Smart, Stupid & Sixty

“… my current top Australian fiction read this year.” – Eamonn O’Hanlon, The Sydney Institute Review of Books, September 2025

” … quite remarkable writing about the contrasting values that dominate contemporary society … absolutely splendid writing deserving of significant recognition” – …

Some thoughts on Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen, Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication (Hybrid Publishing Melbournre, $24.99) by Bridget Shapter  

Although I think it’s highly optimistic that a podcast could insight such a rapid change in the political system, I enjoyed immersing myself in a world where that was a reality. 

Conceptually, Chalk and Cheese is really brilliant – political enemies, unified by a failing government that is letting down all sides of the nation.  Ben and Bill are great leaders of their respective movements – Ben a much stronger voice, but Bill …

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyenHybrid Publishing. Melbourne $24.99Do you worry about how the elderly are treated in nursing homes?

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen Buy now $24.99Also purchase as an eBookAmazonGoogle BooksKobo BooksAlso available from all good bookstores“Chalk and Cheese is a work of brilliantly cinematic quality.” –Nigel Marsh, Smart, Stupid & Sixty“… my current top Australian fiction read this year.” – Eamonn O’Hanlon, The Sydney Institute Review of Books, September 2025

” … quite remarkable writing about the contrasting …

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyen (Hybrid, August 2025, pp 224, $24.99)

Eamonn O’Hanlon After suffering a stroke, veteran conservative commercial radio broadcaster Bill Bradley is admitted to an aged care facility, only to find that one of the residents is none other than his arch political and media rival. This is the left-wing radical socialist broadcaster Ben Curran, whose grandfather was a leading light of the Communist Party of Australia. 

When other residents start asking for their help about unfair government regulations and elder abuse, these two …

In need of something new to read? Here are 10 of the latest books

Chalk and Cheese: A FabricationRoss Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyenHybrid, $24.99

Comic writing partners Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen will be familiar to some from their Grafton Everest books – a lively and long-running Australian series of political satires featuring a Rabelaisian academic (with a touch of Sir Les Patterson) getting himself into absurd scrapes.

In Chalk and Cheese, they break fresh comedic ground. Two journalists with opposing political views are admitted to the same aged care home. Conservative broadcaster …

Can political adversaries ever find common ground to fight for a cause? They can and they do in Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s latest satirical novel.

Ian McFadyen and Ross Fitzgerald teamed up to write the novel Chalk and Cheese.IDoes it take an odd couple to write about an odd couple? If that gives you Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison flashbacks (the diametrically opposed characters of film and TV fame), you get the general idea.

But the odd couple in Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s latest collaboration, Chalk and Cheese, is Ben …

Brisbane launch of Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyen’s  CHALK & CHEESE: A Fabrication .

AVID READER BOOKSHOP West End. Brisbane  Sunday 2 November 2pm for 2.30pm

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication – Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyenSUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER | INSTORE EVENTAVID READER BOOKSHOP193 Boundary Street, West End QLD 4101 (07) 3846 3422 2pm for a 2.30pm start | 60 mins

Join us for the launch of Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen.ABOUT THE BOOKRoss Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s powerful new fiction, Chalk and Cheese, is a tale of two 80-year-old …

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyen (Hybrid, $24.99).Reviewed by MICHAEL BRIODY.

Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s powerful new novel, Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication features two octogenarian former rival radio stars, Bill and Ben, who detest each other – until they find themselves in the same nursing home.

The plot centres around these two men in the twilight of their lives who refuse, as Dylan Thomas wrote, to “go gentle into that good night”.The novel sets the scene for the flood of baby boomers who will boost …

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen,

From Griffith University Media

This goes out to 1189 media outlets each Wednesday

2 July 2025

Interview with prolific author and historian Ross Fitzgerald on hilarious new book Chalk and Cheese

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen, a compelling novel fromHybrid Publishers, features two feisty octogenarian ex-radio stars, Bill and Ben, as theynavigate rivalry and reconciliation in a nursing home.

With humor and heart, this tale explores aging, and unlikely alliances. Their tech-savvy grandchildren, Carl and Lily, help them launch …

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen, Hybrid Publishers,$24.99,

Do you worry about how the elderly are treated in nursing homes?

Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyenCategories: Fiction, Released Soon. Product ID: 8193

“Chalk and Cheese is a work of brilliantly cinematic quality.”–Nigel Marsh, Smart, Stupid & Sixty

Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s powerful new fiction, Chalk and Cheese, is a tale of two 80-year-old former radio stars, Bill and Ben, who hate each other, but who end up in the same nursing home.Even though …