Ron Mccoy S Sea Of Diamonds

Winner of the Patrick White Literary Award On the wild clifftop of the coastal town of Mangowak, Ron McCoy lives an almost marsupial existence with his elderly mother. He hunts and gathers while the town sleeps; he is acutely shy, but in the privacy of his imagination, fostered as it is by his love of music and the oceanscape of his birth, all things are possible. Liz and Craig Wilson, meanwhile, are lovers of the surf and the bush. When Craig is offered a job by Colin Batty, Mangowak's larrikin real estate agent, the dream of bringing up their kids away from the city is finally realised. But working for Batty Real Estate is not as simple as it seems. The surrounding landscape is full of alchemic power and mystery and when Ron McCoy and his mother decide to sell half their land, the subtle generational differences between young and old Australia begin to swirl. Written in a precise, painterly style, Gregory Day's follow-up to his award-winning debut novel, The Patron Saint of Eels, is a powerful meditation on belonging, on landscape, and on love.

A collection of beautiful and moving essays on the wonder of the natural world and the cultural complexities of writing landscape in Australia Words are Eagles collects in one place the essays of award-winning novelist and nature writer, Gregory Day. Grounded in the landscape of southwestern Victoria, and infused with the heightened sense of place and environmental literacy that have long been key to Day's work, these essays traverse landscape, language and histories. Day's attention is tuned both to beauty of the natural world, returning often to the motifs of ground and sky, ocean and owl, moth and river, and the history of place - whether lost, buried or personal. In a part a reading and celebration of the resurgent global nature writing movement, to which Day was an early contributor, this collection highlights the need for ecological care and value of Indigenous knowledge and practices. This is the kind of nature writing that gets to the heart of our urgent need for a more harmonious and regenerative relationship with the earth that sustains us

After the Celebration explores Australian fiction from 1989 to 2007, after Australia's bicentenary to the end of the Howard government. In this literary history, Ken Gelder and Paul Salzman combine close attention to Australian novels with a vivid depiction of their contexts: cultural, social, political, historical, national and transnational. From crime fiction to the postmodern colonial novel, from Australian grunge to 'rural apocalypse fiction', from the Asian diasporic novel to the action blockbuster, Gelder and Salzman show how Australian novelists such as Frank Moorhouse, Elizabeth Jolley, Peter Carey, Kim Scott, Steven Carroll, Kate Grenville, Tim Winton, Alexis Wright and many others have used their work to chart our position in the world. The literary controversies over history, identity, feminism and gatekeeping are read against the politics of the day. Provocative and compelling, After the Celebration captures the key themes and issues in Australian fiction: where we have been and what we have become.

Strange things are happening at the Grand Hotel... 'A hotel as a work of art in little ol' Mangowak? It was about as unlikely as an indoor creek.' Robbed of his zest for life by the absurd innovations of his local council, including knocking down the only pub in his beloved home town and roofing over a section of the creek to protect swimmers from the rain, artist Noel Lea exiles himself in the hills above Mangowak, on the southwest Victorian coast. He returns to find an unexpected destiny awaits. At a turning point in the town's history it seems he has a crucial role to play, as the unlikely publican of an even unlikelier hotel. This is a novel about an Australian pub twenty-first-century style, where the toilets play automated Dadaist recordings, Happy Hour comes with a blessing from the Pope and the patrons' libidos are as voracious as their thirst for the local ale. As events in the hotel take a twist that not even its inventive publican could have imagined, a long-held local mystery begins finally to unravel. Noel and his friends find themselves in uncharted territory, and, to make matters worse, the local authorities are hell-bent on closing them down. From the award-winning author of The Patron Saint of Eels and Ron McCoy’s Sea of Diamonds, Gregory Day's third novel is a witty, earthy and lyrical tour de force that takes some well-aimed swipes at the aspirations and absurdities of contemporary life.

A contemporary fable, this book shows that when life seems dull and cruel it is the power of the natural world, and our ability to imagine it, that can bring the wonder back into living.In the southern Italian village of Stellanuova, in the 1700s, a Franciscan monk, Fra Ionio, becomes known as the Patron Saint of Eels when he brings a distraught fisherman's yearly catch of eels back from the dead in the village market. When Stellanuova's inhabitants emigrate to Australia in the post World War II migrations of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, the immortal saint is left looking down on an abandoned town. To fulfil his calling, he decides in heaven to migrate with his countrymen and now looks down on the state of Victoria, where he intercedes in matters relating to eels.In the southern Victorian town of Mangowak, Noel Lea lives with the melancholy inheritance of a place undergoing the gentrifications of contemporary Australia. Along with his oldest friend, Nanette Burns, he longs for a time when life was less complex and unexpected magic seemed to permeate the ocean town and its people. When spring rains flood a nearby swamp and hundreds of eels get trapped in the grassy ditches around Noel's family home, he and Nanette encounter the vibrant Fra Ionio and get more magic than they bargained for.A beautifully written, charming and evocative book by Gregory Day, who also authored Trace, in collaboration with photographer, Robert Ashton.

The iconic actor Charles McGraw appeared in over 140 roles on films and television, including the classic noir pictures The Killers (1946) and The Narrow Margin (1952). Whether portraying tough cops or sadistic killers, McGraw brought a unique authenticity to the screen. Emphasizing his impact on the film noir style, this comprehensive biography examines McGraw's lengthy career against the backdrop of a changing Hollywood. Through numerous personal interviews with his surviving intimates, close acquaintances and co-workers, his tumultuous personal life is detailed from his earliest days to his bizarre, accidental death. Also included are an extensive critical filmography of McGraw's feature film career, a complete list of television appearances and previously unpublished film stills and personal photos.

WINNER OF THE PATRICK WHITE LITERARY AWARD "Day is one of a small, bold band of Australian novelists...whose imaginative compass is as spacious as is their appetite for risk." The Weekend Australian "Day has chiselled artfully away at his creation, and the result is lovely." The Saturday Paper In the aftermath of the Second World War, an Australian soldier, Wesley Cress, a hero of the underground resistance on German-occupied Crete, seeks solace and comfort on King Island, in the mouth of Bass Strait, in the Roaring Forties latitude of the Southern Ocean. Wesley carries in his heart the infernal story of the Battle of Crete, the disappearance of his brother in the ensuing evacuation, and the hellish journey he was forced to take after he was left behind on the ancient island. When he meets Leonie Fermoy, the granddaughter of an American whaler with her own nightmares, the private and the public battles of their post-war worlds begin to fuse. Through the agency of John Lascelles - the unassuming postmaster on the island and a crusader for the rights of returned soldiers - Wes and Leonie attempt to negotiate a future in which love can prevail in a morally devastated world. Archipelago of Souls is a novel exploring the difficult realities of nationhood, war, morality and love. Compelling and beautifully realised, it is about the creation of identity, the enigmas of memory and the power of the written word to heal the deepest wounds. "Richly layered and skilfully controlled, Day is one of a small, bold band of Australian novelists whose imaginative compass is as spacious as is their appetite for risk. For each renewal of his career we can be thankful." The Australian "A mature and searching book. It is consummately crafted." Michael McGirr, SMH "Archipelago of Souls is a novel that I read as slowly as I could, not only to savour Day's eloquence and skill in evoking his main characters, the villagers on Crete and King Island, and landscape, plants, and animals; not only to marvel at the moving, universal story he tells; not only to listen to the musicality and rhythm he creates with language, but also because I didn't want it to end. Gregory Day is a master storyteller." Newtown Review of Books "It's a beautifully written book with a poetic ring to many descriptions that evoke strong imagery, complementing the strong storyline, which will be remembered long after the last page is turned."The Weekly Times "Day's account of Cress' grinding struggle on Crete is remarkable in every way." The Age