London: Faber And Faber, 1988
8vo, first English edition, original blue cloth lettered in white on spine, dust-jacket
Oscar Hopkins, from a Cornish family of Plymouth Brethren, and Lucinda Leplastrier, an Australian heiress, meet on a voyage to Australia. A mutual addiction to gambling binds them, and Lucinda bets Oscar that he cannot transport a glass church four hundred miles up the coast from Sydney.
Winner of the 1988 Booker Prize, the 1988 Book Council Award (Australia) and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. Shortlisted for The Best of the Booker award 2008. The 1987 film Oscar and Lucinda directed by Gillian Armstrong starred Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes.
Annotated on 22 pages, with an inserted annotated original photograph of the river “where the novel was born”. The author has also pasted two recent ‘Australian Legends’ stamps onto the title page, showing photographs of Carey in his youth and middle age. Approximately 400 words.
This ending has upset so many people who ask how I could possibly do this. My answer is- this is how the book arrived in my mind, when I had no idea who Oscar was. This was his DNA, his fate.
This ending has upset so many people who ask how I could possibly do this. My answer is- this is how the book arrived in my mind, when I had no idea who Oscar was. This was his DNA, his fate.