Eucalyptus by Murray Bail
On a property in New South Wales, a man named Holland lives with his daughter Ellen. As years pass and Ellen grows into a beautiful young woman, her father announces his decision: she will marry the first man who can name all the species of the eucalypt, down to the last tree.
There is such delight in Eucalyptus, such strange and sly and swerving humourMurray Bail is the warmest and quick witted of storytellers. You will never forget what is at the heart of this book: one of the great and most surprising courtships in literature
It's a masterpiece. A novel of high seriousness and higher playfulness that will scarcely be matched this year for the dexterity of its wit -- Michael Hulse * Spectator *
Bail tells a story which is encrusted with delicious detail, and writes in an affecting mood of rapt tenderness. The book will haunt its readers long after more perfectly-finished fictions have faded from their memories * Observer *
Eucalyptus is that rare thing: a book whose author has succeeded in harnessing the seductive format of the fairy story and transforming it into something quite distinctive - neither fantastical nor realistic, but an elegant, humane, funny and wise journey to the interior of the human heart -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph *
Tall trees inspire tall tales. Eucalyptus makes most other novels seem weedy by comparison. It is a towering achievement * Time Out *
It's a masterpiece. A novel of high seriousness and higher playfulness that will scarcely be matched this year for the dexterity of its wit -- Michael Hulse * Spectator *
Bail tells a story which is encrusted with delicious detail, and writes in an affecting mood of rapt tenderness. The book will haunt its readers long after more perfectly-finished fictions have faded from their memories * Observer *
Eucalyptus is that rare thing: a book whose author has succeeded in harnessing the seductive format of the fairy story and transforming it into something quite distinctive - neither fantastical nor realistic, but an elegant, humane, funny and wise journey to the interior of the human heart -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph *
Tall trees inspire tall tales. Eucalyptus makes most other novels seem weedy by comparison. It is a towering achievement * Time Out *
Murray Bail was born in Adelaide in 1941, and now lives in Sydney. His first novel, Homesickness, won the National Book Award for Australian Literature and the Melbourne Age Book of the Year Award. His subsequent novel, Holden's Performance, won the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction. His non-fiction includes an acclaimed monograph on the work of the painter Ian Fairweather.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781860464959 |
| ISBN 10 | 1860464955 |
| Title | Eucalyptus |
| Author | Murray Bail |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 1999-05-20 |
| Number of pages | 272 |
| Prizes | Winner of The Commonwealth Writers Prize 1999, Winner of The Commonwealth Writer's Prize Best Book South East Asia and South Pacific 1999, Short-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 1999, Short-listed for Victorian Premier's Literary Award - Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction 1999, Short-listed for APA Design Awards: Australian Paper Best Designed Hardback 1998, Short-listed for Book Data/ABA Book of the Year Award 1998 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |