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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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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