East

East is a novel-length travelogue in the tradition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. It is a road odyssey that takes in Australia — the beautiful, the ugly and the in between.

The Story

It is 1995. A junior lawyer narrator leaves behind a small, mean and viciously circular life representing petty criminals and takes to the road. He has lived thirty years. The wide continent of Australia is out in front. He is almost young.

The protagonist, Vince Osbourne, traverses the country through 1994 and 1995, encountering vignettes of Australian life, people, and landscapes along the way.

Style & Influences

Written in the tradition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, East captures the restless momentum of a journey across the continent. The narrative moves through ordinary encounters and wide horizons alike, recording what the road reveals about place and self.

Read an Excerpt

"Where will the road lead? East captures the long sweep of the country, the weather-beaten towns, the strangers met in passing — all rendered in a voice that keeps one foot on the accelerator and the other in memory."

Peri Hoskins is a writer whose work spans novels, memoirs, and reflective creative nonfiction, often drawing on journeys across wide landscapes and the people who inhabit them. Her projects tend to explore the textures of travel, the pull of the open road, and the quiet turning points that shape a life in motion. Readers who follow her blog encounter a steady stream of insight into the craft of writing, the rhythms of long-form storytelling, and the curious intersections between place and character.

The Vince Osbourne series sits at the heart of her bibliography, beginning with a road odyssey set in the mid-1990s. The narrative follows a young lawyer who walks away from a narrow, repetitive life and sets out across a vast continent, trading courtroom routine for sunsets, rain, desert stretches, and chance encounters in roadside bars. The story unfolds as a series of vignettes, weaving together cyclists, jockeys, drifters, lovers, and locals into a rich tapestry of human experience that feels at once specific to its setting and broadly recognisable.

Her prose carries echoes of classic travel writing traditions, channeling the restless energy of Kerouac while grounding it in detailed observation and a distinctly personal voice. Across both books, themes of karma and dharma surface gently, suggesting that meaningful change rarely arrives as a single dramatic event. Instead, it accumulates through small encounters, long stretches of highway, and the slow accumulation of stories told and overheard. The result is writing that honours the journey itself as much as the destination.

Beyond the novels, Peri Hoskins continues to share poetry, interviews, and reflections through her online presence, engaging with fellow writers and readers along the way. Her posts often touch on inspiration, creative process, and the small disciplines that sustain a long writing life. Whether discussing poets who have shaped her sensibility or offering glimpses of works in progress, she invites readers into a thoughtful, generous literary conversation. The blog functions as a companion space to her books, extending the same spirit of curiosity into everyday writing practice.

Where to Buy

East is available as both eBook and print editions.

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