Welcome to Litsy!

Hoping it'll be like old times, Jerra and his best mate Sean set off in a beaten-up VW to go camping on the coast. Jerra's friends and family want him to finish uni, get a girl, get a job like Sean has. But what Jerra is searching for is more elusive. They don't understand about Sean's mother, or the bush, or the fish with the pearl. Only the sea, and perhaps the old man who lives in a shack beside it, can help. 'Winton is in control of his language, deftly manipulating the emotional registers without distortion of insistence � A most interesting and promising debut.' Australian Book Review 'Amid brooding images of mutilation and guilt, awakening sexuality and displacement of ideals � Winton draws together a delicate pattern of images and tensions and energy. His first novel, it is a work of energy and restraint.' Good Reading Guide 'Winton catches quick slivers of detail and creates the compelling patterns of Jerra's consciousness� the novel has a curious stillness underneath its tensions and mystery � Winton writes with sharp immediacy and with a fine restraint.' The Age