Caricamento
Summer Escape: Best Books Set in Australia
Take an incredible trip (or three) this summer without leaving your couch.
Pubblicato il 05 Agosto 2020
The Light Between Oceans: A Novel
M.L. StedmanWESTERN AUSTRALIA: Moral codes, maternal instincts, and a young couple’s marriage are put to the test when a boat carrying a dead man, and a very alive baby girl, washes onto the shore of a remote Australian island.
Tracks: One Woman's Journey Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback
Robyn DavidsonAUSTRALIAN OUTBACK: In 1977, Robyn Davidson set out to cross 1,700 miles of wilderness (roughly the current length of the line to get into Trader Joe’s) accompanied by only four camels and a dog. Journeying across unforgiving terrain, she fights off both poisonous snakes and lascivious men. Her exciting adventures just might make you grateful to be stuck in the safety of your home.
The Swan Book: A Novel
Alexis WrightSOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA: This award-winning #OwnVoices story draws on myths and legends to conjure a dystopian world in the near future. According to Publishers Weekly, the book “deftly highlights the racial and cultural politics facing Australia’s indigenous people in a story that defies genre.”
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Doris PilkingtonMOORE RIVER NATIVE SETTLEMENT TO JIGALONG: As part of an Australian policy during the early 20th century, multiracial children were removed from their families, taken to faraway “settlements,” and forced to assimilate. Life in these glorified prisons was unbearable. In 1931, three girls (including author Doris Pilkington’s mother) escaped. This is the true story of their 1,000 mile journey home along Australia’s famous rabbit-proof fence.
My Brilliant Career
Miles FranklinRURAL NEW SOUTH WALES: In turn of the century Australia, headstrong Sybylla turns down the opportunity to marry a wealthy gentleman in order to preserve her independence. Without the money marriage would have provided, she takes a job as governess for a local family to which her father is indebted. This classic of Australian literature was written by 21-year-old Miles Franklin, a young woman widely considered one of the country’s finest authors.
The Secret River
Kate GrenvilleCONVICT COLONIES: Travel back in time to when Australia was subject to British rule. Based on the author’s own family history, this moving novel explores the lives of convict pioneers, like the London thief sentenced to the colonies with his pregnant wife. The acclaimed story doesn’t shy away from the violent implications of the British exiles putting down roots at the expense of the land’s original inhabitants.
True History of the Kelly Gang
Peter CareyNORTH EAST VICTORIA: Throughout the late 1800s, the Kelly family embarked on a crime spree and battle with the legal system that would turn them into cult heroes of Australian lore. In Peter Carey’s astonishing Booker Prize winner, Ned Kelly finally gets to tell his side of the story, one where the odds were stacked so heavily against a descendent of Irish criminals that he had no choice but to take the law into his own hands.
A Fortunate Life
A.B. FaceyWESTERN AUSTRALIA: Albert Facey was born into unimaginable poverty, and things only got harder from there. Illiterate until his teens, he farmed sheep on the frontier, fought in WWI, suffered through the depression, and more, but these challenges couldn’t dampen Facey’s spirit. This beloved classic of Australian literature is an inspirational wonder, especially now during our current pandemic hardships.