Snowprint Bookshop in Jindabyne launched “A Few Right Thinking Men” last week and shop owner Shaaron Ellis said she enjoyed the educative nature of the book.

“I didn’t know all of this about the 1930s and I’m a grandmother. I like the way Sulari lets the reader come to their own conclusions on things,” Ms Ellis said.

Ms Gentill said Australian right-wing politicians of the 1930s were driven by fears of Asian immigration, communism and unions. While the finer details may have changed, she sees history repeating itself “all the time”.

“We see the rise of cults of personality at the moment, and that has happened time and time again in periods of financial stress,” Ms Gentill said.

“People get sick of listening to rational arguments and start to look towards people instead. That’s what saw Hitler and Mussolini into power, economic crisis,” she said.

More moderate-minded folk need not worry because Australia has a “peculiar resilience to extreme political forces” according to Ms Gentill.

“We seem to know when matters are getting ridiculous,” she said.

Ms Gentill describes her debut novel as a fictional romp through history. Her research led her to believe that as “nutty” as some politicians of the 1930s were, they were earnest in their belief of what was best for Australia.

“A Few Right Thinking Men” is the first of a trilogy with sequel “A Decline in Prophets” due for release in 2011. The third in the series is working its way from Mrs Gentill’s imagination to the page, but a source said the main character would be visiting the High Country in the third and final book.

Batlow is home to Ms Gentill, but as a founding Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority board member, she feels well at home on this side of the Great Dividing Range.