The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories

by Jana Wendt

Jana Wendt, the much-loved Gold Logie superstar of TV journalism for nearly three decades, feature writer and role model for young career women, has now turned her hand to fiction.

In ‘Bits and Pieces’, an artist talks about his long ‘Let me tell you, my friend, journalists ask some very stupid questions.’ In ‘Fame and Nothingness’, a once celebrated journalist calls into a talkback program about meeting Nelson Mandela. In ‘The Stamp of History’, Ada and Albert live through the dark days of Europe. In the opening story, Ludmilla is about to discover an entirely new side to her husband.

Wendt’s stories are polished and exuberant, rich with distinctive voices and precise details. Her characters grapple with fortune and misfortune, with memories of lives in interesting times. Couples are betrayed and redeemed. There are heart-stopping monologues and witty exchanges between friends and rivals. Tragedies alternate with enduring love.

In The Far Side of the Moon, Jana Wendt brings to life a brilliant parade of people, living in a world we instantly recognise.

Jana Wendt is a journalist and writer. Her feature writing has appeared in a broad range of publications and she has worked for every Australian television network as a senior reporter and presenter, and as a contributing correspondent for the American CBS Network’s 60 Minutes. Wendt has interviewed many key newsmakers, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Muammar Gaddafi, Henry Kissinger, Rupert Murdoch, Conrad Black, Benazir Bhutto, Binyamin Netanyahu, and Yasser Arafat. In the arts, her subjects have included pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim; opera star Cecilia Bartoli; writer Norman Mailer and jazz diva Cleo Laine. Jana Wendt has published two books of non-fiction. The Far Side of the Moon is her first book of fiction.

'A masterfully wrought series of wise, elegant and surprising.' Amanda Lohrey, Miles Franklin Award-winning author of The Labyrinth

‘An appealing blend of wistfulness and playful bemusement...Readers will take pleasure...in the volume’s running themes – particularly the puzzles it constructs from the different kinds of truth, and the opposing strategies deployed to uncover them, in journalism and fiction.’ Age

‘An elegant collection, sometimes delightful, funny, and always observant of the human condition via the smallness of everyday lives.’ Guardian

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2025

About the author

Jana is a well respected Journalist, best known for her many years on TV.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Let me tell you, my friend, journalists ask some very stupid questions.’

Jana Wendt is best known for her sharp interviews and on camera cool, her fiction debut is a total curveball and a very welcome one.

The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories is a clever, thoughtful collection that sneaks up on you. The stories aren’t loud or flashy, but they’re full of these perfectly observed little moments, the kind that make you pause and go, “Yep. That’s exactly how that feels.” There’s dry humour, emotional depth, and a lovely undercurrent of curiosity running through every story.

Wendt clearly has a soft spot for people, the quiet ones, the complicated ones, the ones holding it together with sticky tape! Her characters feel real without being dramatic, and the writing is smooth and confident, like someone who’s been telling stories forever (just not on the page… until now).

The title story is a standout, strange, a little sad, and quietly moving, but honestly, the whole collection is solid. It’s the kind of book you read in little sips, then find yourself thinking about later when you’re doing the dishes or waiting at a red light.

This collection was unexpected, smart, and a little bit dreamy. Like catching your favourite newsreader moonlighting as a novelist and absolutely nailing it.

I Highly Recommend.

Thank you Text Publishing for my early readers copy.

[Sue Thorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up watching journalist Jana Wendt on A Current Affair and 60 Minutes, the “perfumed steamroller” who interviewed everyone from Kermit the frog to Yasser Arafat. I always admired her extreme intelligence, fearlessness, and humour. You would have her having an intense heated debate with Gorbachev or Keating and then be in fits of giggles talking to Robin Williams or at the antics of John Clarke and Bryan Dawe as each episode closed. She was a wonderful role model for young women.

This book of short stories has obviously stemmed from her clever and insightful understanding of people and listening to their stories. Aside from the two final stories, each one is unrelated but with the themes of belonging, loneliness, connection, ageing, and mortality. They are all about the complexities of everyday life and beautifully told with compassion and humour. The final two stories, told from 2 work colleagues, individual viewpoints show the difference of living your life with the attitude of glass half full or half empty - focussing on the light or dark in your life.

This is a lovely book to amble through, reflect on the lives of others whilst also reflecting on your own life.

4.3 stars

Many thanks to Jana Wendt and Text Publishing for my copy to review.

[Text Publishing]

The following reviews have been shared by Text Publishing, publisher of The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories.

‘A masterfully wrought series of portraits: wise, elegant and surprising.’
Amanda Lohrey

‘An elegant collection, sometimes delightful, funny, and always observant of the human condition via the smallness of everyday lives.’
Guardian

‘Jana Wendt knows her way around a story, her new Parth as an author of sharp, playful, unforgettable short stories is a revelation.’
Michael Williams, QANTAS Magazine

‘ …An astute and an assured and an empathetic insight into human nature…Thought provoking, well written, I can highly recommend.’
RNZ Nine to Noon

‘An appealing blend of wistfulness and playful bemusement...Readers will take pleasure...in the volume’s running themes – particularly the puzzles it constructs from the different kinds of truth, and the opposing strategies deployed to uncover them, in journalism and fiction.’
Age

‘An enthralling volume of short stories with a diverse range of characters. … engaging and thought provoking’
Blue Wolf Reviews

‘12 jewels of impeccable observation and erudite commentary. [Wendt’s] experiences in the media zing smartly into the worlds of her characters along with an astute eye for human idiosyncrasies and frailty. *****’
SA Weekend

[Suzie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories across many lives and experiences, but with an overarching theme of identity, connections and dis-connect

[Jan Mawdesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Nan van Dissel for Text Publishing and Bluewolf Reviews.
Award winning TV journalist of almost three decades, Jana Wendt has not only used her contact with a wide range of the population but also her ability to observe and study them as individuals to create an enthralling volume of short stories with a diverse range of characters. Although she has written two successful nonfiction books, this is her first fiction collection.
Each of the twelve thoughtful stories bring to life individuals with vastly diverse backgrounds, personal history, and life’s experiences; they are a polished study of a character who is distinctive and recognizable.
The varied story lines are engaging and thought provoking; some highlighting a time in history long past. They include a bickering couple, a life unfulfilled, a possibility of becoming reborn and a reliving of the dark days of the Berlin Wall. While some are tragedies, others allow the reader to rejoice in the enduring love of the characters, but all have the reader reflecting on life.
This is the type of book readers will pick up and put down thus giving themselves the time to reflect; generally, on an aspect of their own life, which it has resurfaced.

[Belinda Cranston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected kindness in unexpected places, is a common theme of Jana’s Wendt’s The Far Side of the Moon, a collection of stories highlighting various challenges faced by people well into middle age.

My favourite is titled Fame and Nothingness - the tale of a once famous television journalist, Lena, who now spends her days gardening, shopping for food, listening to the radio and seemingly other run of the mill activities. She’s so far removed from the world of tv network executives and the harsh glare of spotlights, it seems she has forgotten she was once famous.

In another story, a man is traumatised because he hasn’t lived up to the high expectations of his parents, who believed his high IQ would open up any number of doors for a brilliant mind like his. Instead, he spends his days working in a coin shop.

These beautifully told stories reveal a highly perceptive and empathetic side to Wendt - traits those familiar with her fearless reporting style might be surprised by. This makes her skillset all the more remarkable. I read the stories one at a time because I wanted to savour the delicate, insightful way in which they were told. Highly recommended over the holiday season.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a while since I read these stories and not many have stuck in my mind so writing a review is a little unfair. I always have trouble remembering the details of short stories and it's particularly so in this case.

Let's just say that I found most of the stories interesting and well written but with a generally downbeat mood. Most of the characters were old or dispirited although in a few stories there were moments of hope or love.

It was good though to see Jana Wendt employing her journalistic skills and understanding of people in a different setting to her television work.

[Uday Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a change from the famed television interviewer Jana Wendt to the author Jana. Her short stories are extremely difficult to comprehend at first reading and often requires a slow read or reread to appreciate the depth involved. She seems to have written episodes based on bits and pieces she has picked up from people she has met in her rich career and embellished with her imagination. Quite a nice read.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the days of Mike Willesee and the like when journalists terrorised our politicains Jana Wendt held her own. Ergo I was excited to read something she had penned....
I thought it was okay without being intelectually earth shattering.
' Bits&Pieces' did take me back to the razor sharp days of her glory but the others I found somewhat pedestrian in their subject matter.

[Farrells Bookshop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories that from my impression are about ageing and how you are a different person to who you were at a younger age.

Read by Suzie

[Shazza Hoppsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diferrent nationalities reflect back on their lives. Some stores felt quite melancholy. 3.5.

[Caren · Rating 1 out of 5]

With disappointment, I did not enjoy Wendt's collection of short stories. I found them lacking the razor-sharp perceptions that I had expected from this former, most admired Tv journalist.

[Vanessa Borg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have to say I would not recommend. A couple of stories were okay, but most were not worth reading. I very rarely not want to continue reading a book, but with this one there were several times.

[Tania Lindner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keep reading to the end. The last 2 stories are the best ones.