THE WHITE BODY OF EVENING
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a Novel by A L McCann
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HarperCollins (Pymble, NSW), August 2002
Trade Paperback (350pp, 234x153mm) $27.95
isbn 0-7322-7467-2
Set between 1891 and 1922, The White Body of Evening is a compelling and thought-provoking debut novel. It focuses on the exploits of a family of true eccentrics—the Walters—as they come to grips with all the horror and hilarity of life. They roam the alleyways and arcades of old Melbourne—a Gothic labyrinth teeming with brothels, magic shops, fortune tellers, poets and predators—and even flee to the war-torn Europe, all the while trying to make sense of what it means to be urban and Australian. For beyond the respectable facades, beyond the rituals of nation-building and middle-class propriety lies another darker world—one of obsession, derangement, dissipation and crime—and it is this world into which the Walters are drawn. From Melbourne to Vienna and back again, nothing is quite what it seems—the lure of the perverse is potent and can only climax in one disastrous way...
This is an exceptional novel, a work of intricacy, magic and squalor, at once confronting and entertaining, ribald and elegant. Written with an historian's eye for detail and a painter's love of beauty, it heralds an important new voice in Australian fiction.
A brooding, Goth-historical tale from an outstanding new talent.
Purchase The White Body of Evening from Dymocks Online.
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