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Reaching Tin River

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( 86 ratings, 11 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Reaching Tin River by Thea Astley and Jennifer Down follows the introspective journey of a woman named Belle, who is drawn to the remote town of Tin River. There, she explores the complexities of her past, encounters intriguing residents, and grapples with themes of identity, isolation, and connection. It's a beautifully crafted narrative steeped in rich detail and emotional depth, inviting readers to reflect on the influences that shape a person’s life.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$1799
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

If you enjoy tales of intricate character studies set against richly detailed backdrops, this book may captivate you. The interplay of history and personal discovery with layers of wit and poignant observations offers a unique narrative experience. Ideal for readers who appreciate a blend of introspection and a vivid sense of place.

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A woman becomes obsessed with the story of a long-dead colonial pioneer, and her research becomes a way of coming to terms with her own past.

A woman becomes obsessed with the story of a long-dead colonial pioneer, and her research becomes a way of coming to terms with her own past.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A woman becomes obsessed with the story of a long-dead colonial pioneer, and her research becomes a way of coming to terms with her own past.

Researching in the archives, Belle discovers the long-dead Gaden Lockyer, a colonial pioneer in Jericho Flats, and soon becomes obsessed. Belle's quest for Lockyer is her way of coming to terms with the pastβ€”her mother, 'a drummer in her own all-women's group'; her absent American father; and her ineffectual husband, Seb.

In Reaching Tin River, Thea Astley's satire is at its sharpest and most entertaining.

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?

Reaching Tin River by Jennifer Down and Thea Astley is praised for its dazzling imagery and beautiful prose. Critics admire its fresh and intelligent storytelling, with particular commendation for Astley's evocative depiction of Australia's pioneer history and the compelling journey of the character Belle.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781925603552

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 April 2018

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

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. In 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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  • A Kindness Cup
    I told them to go into the scrub and disperse the tribe. Disperse? That is a strange word. What do you mean by dispersing? Firing at them. Two decades after a massacre of local Aboriginal people, the former residents of a Queensland town have reunited to celebrate the progress and prosperity of their community. Tom Dorahy, returning to his hometown,...
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    There are distant shouts, rifle shots, the pounding of feet across the bridge, the sound of running. A woman’s scream carves the night then bubbles away. In 1930, the superintendent of a mission on a Queensland island, driven mad by his wife’s death, goes on a murderous rampage. Fearing for their lives, the other whites arm a young Indigenous man...
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    Wresting his family from the easy living of 19th-century Sydney, Cornelius Laffey takes them to northern Queensland where thousands of hopefuls are digging for gold in the mud. They confront the horror of Aboriginal dispossession, and Cornelius is sacked for reporting the slaughter. It's Raining in Mango: Popular Penguins is an unforgettable tale of the other side of Australia's heritage....
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