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Drylands
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Drylands
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See moreIn the bleak outback town of Drylands, Janet Deakin runs a newsagency and writes a novel for the world's last reader.
First published in 1999, Drylands was Thea Astley's fourth and final Miles Franklin winner.
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Description
First published in 1999, Drylands was Thea Astley's fourth and final Miles Franklin winner.
In the dying town of Drylands, Janet Deakin sells papers to lonely locals. At night, in her flat above the newsagency, she attempts to write a novel for a world in which no one reads - 'full of people, she envisaged, glaring at a screen that glared glassily back.'
Drylands is the story of the townsfolk's harsh, violent lives. Trenchant and brilliant, Thea Astley's final novel is a dark portrait of outback Australia in decline.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Drylands by Thea Astley is lauded for its compelling energy and passionate narrative, making it a page-turner according to the Herald Sun. The Australian describes it simply as "wonderful," indicating a strong appreciation for the book's merits.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781925603576
Publisher: Text Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 30 April 2018
Country: Australia
Imprint: The Text Publishing Company
Contributors:
- Introduction by Emily Maguire
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 272
About the Author
Thea Beatrice May Astley was born in Brisbane in 1925. n 1958 Astley's first novel, Girl with a Monkey, was published. Over the next four decades she published a work of fiction every few years. Her novels and short stories are distinguished by vivid imagery and metaphor; a complex, ironic style; and a desire to highlight oppression and social injustice. Astley won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Well Dressed Explorer (1962), her third novel. Many notable books followed, among them the groundbreaking A Kindness Cup (1974), which addressed frontier massacres of Indigenous Australians, and It's Raining in Mango (1987). Astley won the 1989 Patrick White Award and became an Officer in the Order of Australia in 1992. Her last novel was Drylands (1999), her fourth Miles Franklin winner and first since 1972. A lifelong chain-smoker famed for her sharp wit, Thea Astley died in 2004. She remains one of the most distinctive and influential Australian novelists of the twentieth century.
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