Book description
‘Tim Winton is the real thing: a writer who can photograph a thought
and pluck out the beat of a soul on a washing line’
Scotland on Sunday
In this, Tim Winton’s first collection of short stories, the world he
paints is often harsh and disturbing, inhabited by isolated, unforgiving
characters. It is a world at once familiar, filled with the trappings of
home and family, and yet also strangely twisted; a world where casual
brutality and unexpected death are never far from the surface. Evident
in a young girl’s violent temper once the eggs she has so jealously
guarded finally hatch, or in the careless indifference of the woman
stepping over a soldier’s spreadeagled body, Tim Winton’s world is a
place where dysfunction and disorder constantly threaten the
equilibrium. But there is compassion and beauty there too - whether it’s
in the brush of a father’s hand against his young son’s cheek, or the
neighbours who wait patiently to celebrate the arrival of a new baby.
‘Winton is boisterous and lyrical by turns; his sense of sentiment is
unerringly accurate, his characters unforgettable. The emotional control
exercised over his anarchic world puts Winton in the top drawer of
Australian fiction’ Daily Telegraph
‘Winton’s compassionate and humorous writing is nothing short of
magnificent. If you can imagine Neighbours
taken over by the writing team of John Steinbeck and Gabriel García
Márquez, you’re close’ Time Out
Tim Winton was born in Perth in 1960. He is the author of fifteen
books, including novels, a collection of stories, non-fiction and books
for children. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize twice, for
The Riders
(1995) and Dirt Music
(2002).
