Oscar and Lucinda
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
Oscar Hopkins, the hydrophobic, noisy-kneed son of a preacher, renounces his father’s stern religion in favour of the Anglican Church. Lucinda Leplastrier, a frizzy-haired heiress, impulsively buys a glass factory with the inheritance forced on her by a well-intentioned adviser. When the two finally meet, on board a ship to New South Wales, they are bound by their affinity for gambling and risk, their loneliness, and their awkwardly blossoming mutual affection. Love will prove to be their ultimate gamble.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Winner of the prestigious Man Booker and Miles Franklin awards, Oscar and Lucinda is packed with visual images that linger in the imagination. Oscar is a socially awkward English pastor. Lucinda is a reluctant heiress who buys a glass factory on a whim. Much of the duo’s idiosyncratic love story takes place in mid–19th century Sydney: a teeming muddle of misfits, snobs and adventurers. We marvelled at Peter Carey’s evocative sentences and giggled at his comic insights into human weaknesses. There are other powerful themes that make this entertaining novel a great choice for book club discussions, including race, faith, chance and providence.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
``If Illywhacker astounded us with its imaginative richness, this latest Carey novel does so again, with a masterly sureness of touch added. It's a story, in a sense the story, of mid-19th century England and Australia, narrated by a man of our time, and therefore permeated with modern consciousness,'' stated PW. The novel won the Booker Prize.
