Shortlisted for the Booker Prize

‘Compelling’ – The Independent

‘Beautiful’ – The Sunday Telegraph

Georgie Jutland is a mess. At forty, with her career in ruins, she finds herself stranded with a man she doesn’t love and two kids whose dead mother she can never replace. She spends her days in isolated tedium and her nights in a blur of vodka and self-recrimination.

Until, early one morning, she sees a shadow drifting up the beach below her house. It is Luther Fox, an outcast, a man on the run from his own past. And now here he is stepping into Georgie’s life. He brings hope, maybe even love, but also danger . . .

Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

Prizes

Short-listed for Man Booker Prize 2002 (UK)

Generous, earthy and raw . . . Mysteries don’t come more heartfelt than this * The Independent *
Winton keeps writing fiction that makes the novel feel alive to a continent of possibilities * Evening Standard *
Winton is not a great Australian novelist; he is a great novelist, full stop * The Times *
Written in seemingly effortless prose that never puts a foot wrong * The Sunday Times *
A book about the possibility and power of love . . . just pick it up and you’ll be transported * The Mail on Sunday *
Winton’s writing is a heady blend of muscular description, deep sentiment and metaphysics . . . Dirt Music is a beautiful celebration of his country * The Sunday Telegraph *
Stunningly written . . . a revelation . . . a magnificent book with themes as enormous as its landscape * The Big Issue *

Tim Winton is widely considered one of the greatest living Australian writers. He has published numerous books, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian/Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). He lives in Western Australia.