On to Mt TBR it goes.

This novel covers topics of bigotry and racism, bitterness and hatred, bullying and small mindedness. However it also delves into the Aussie capacity for compassion, courage and determination. Recommend reading.

To the finder of this book -
Please let me know it is in safe hands by journalling that you have caught it, you are under no obligation to read it and Bookcrossing is completely anonymous.

I try to read her books as Thea Astley (under her real name) was a teacher at my high school when I went there.
In her flat above Drylands' newsagency, Janet Deakin is writing a book for the world's last reader. Little has changed her in 50 years, except for the coming of cable TV. Loneliness is almost a religion, and still everyone knows your business. But the town is being outmanoeuvered by drought and begins to empty, pouring itself out like water into sand. Small minds shrink even smaller in the vastness of the land. One man is forced out by council rates and bigotry; another sells his property, risking the lot to build his dream. All of them are shadowed by violence of some sort - these people whose only victory over the town is in leaving it.

This reads like Astley's last book & on checking it is, written in 1999. This might sound negative, but not so, Astley is still as dry humoured & witty & acerbic as ever. Rather than a normal narrative plot, it is almost 6 or 7 connected stories involving the people of Drylands and why they are there. It is only in the last 50 pages or so, that they all flow into a single coda of a narrative. This works well & even the times when an event is repeated, you see that event from another perspective and it only enhances the importance, rather than bores. Astley's Queensland has always been populated by broken drunks, or someone hiding, or someone being constrained by small town mentality and bigotry. It is all here and more.

Rel #194 for 2023..