Book description
Olivier is a French aristocrat, the traumatized child of survivors
of the Revolution. Parrot the son of an itinerant printer who always
wanted to be an artist but has ended up a servant. Born on different
sides of history, their lives will be brought together by their
travels in America. When Olivier sets sail for the New World,
ostensibly to study its prisons but in reality to save his neck from
one more revolution - Parrot is sent with him, as spy, protector, foe
and foil. As the narrative shifts between the perspectives of Parrot
and Olivier, and their picaresque travels together and apart - in love
and politics, prisons and the world of art - Peter Carey explores the
adventure of American democracy, in theory and in practice, with
dazzling wit and inventiveness.
Peter Carey received the Booker Prize for Oscar and Lucinda and
again for True History of the Kelly Gang. His other honors include the
Commonwealth Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. Born in Australia, he
has lived in New York City for 20 years.
