The Tilted Cross

The Tilted Cross (1961) is a novel by Australian author Hal Porter.

Plot outline
The novel is set in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1845-46. It follows the last few months in the life of Judas Griffin Vaneleigh, a transported forger and suspected poisoner.

Critical reception
A reviewer in The Canberra Times was not as enthusiastic as some of his colleagues: "Porter's baroque style gives his wordage full play. He spins his words like a thick spider's web and in the depths of the web he sets an evil collection of characters . . . They move dimly and poisonously in the mess of words like red-back spiders stirring in a thick web in a dark corner."