Book description
A novel which won the 1958 Miles Franklin and Melbourne Book Fair Awards. It is the story of an old missionary whose faith has deserted him and who, after a crisis at the mission, sets out on a journey of self-discovery through landscape as desolate as the state of his…
Why read it?
1 author picked To the Islands as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I am so grateful that my book club chooses one Australian classic each year – otherwise I may not have found this remarkable piece of writing by a 22 year old Randolph Stow.
To The Islands is a Lear-like journey in the strange country of one man's soul. Set in a remote part of Australia's north-west, the novel tracks the last days of a worn-out Anglican missionary, weaving between the landscape and his mind as he searches for the islands of death and mystery.
Written back in the 1950s, against a background of black-white fear and violence, it is a…
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December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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