Publisher Description

The author of Dirt Music and The Riders captures the urgency of memory and the way an entire life can be shaped by one event from the past in this capsule of connected stories set on the coast of Western Australia. Tim Winton's stunning collection of connected stories is about turnings of all kinds--changes of heart, slow awakenings, nasty surprises and accidents, sudden detours, resolves made or broken. Brothers cease speaking to each other, husbands abandon wives and children, grown men are haunted by childhood fears. People struggle against the weight of their own history and try to reconcile themselves to their place in the world. With extraordinary insight and tenderness, Winton explores the demons and frailties of ordinary people whose lives are not what they had hoped.

Author Biography

Tim Winton grew up on the coast of Western Australia, where he continues to live. He is the author of eighteen books. His epic novel Cloudstreet was adapted for the theater and has been performed around the world. His two most recent novels, Dirt Music and The Riders, were both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award three times, and in 1998 the Australian National Trust declared Winton a national living treasure. The Turning has already won the 2005 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.

Review

"The Turning is finely crafted without being showy; sincere and moving without any authorial tug at the heartstrings. The best stories are nearly -- what's the word I'm looking for? -- immaculate." -- Bookforum
"The writing is frankly brilliant...each story attains a sort of powerful beauty. Winton shows us how startling ordinary life is." -- The Boston Globe
"These stories have an austerity as lofty as the weather on this wild coast, and as capable of surprises." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Tim Winton tenderly extends his broken characters a delicate grace." -- Entertainment Weekly
"What John Steinbeck was to California's Central Valley, Tim Winton is to the coastal region of Western Australia.... Winton's ability to arrange the written word appears effortless." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Long Description

Set on a coastal stretch of Western Australia, Tim Winton's stunning collection of connected stories is about turnings of all kinds -- changes of heart, slow awakenings, nasty surprises and accidents, sudden detours, resolves made or broken. Brothers cease speaking to each other, husbands abandon wives and children, grown men are haunted by childhood fears. People struggle against the weight of their own history and try to reconcile themselves to their place in the world. With extraordinary insight and tenderness, Winton explores the demons and frailties of ordinary people whose lives are not what they had hoped.

Review Quote

"Winton writes with rare sympathy about memory and loss, and gruff tenderness about losers and dreamers. In "The Turning," the same tropes and themes, the small towns and a stunning and unyielding landscape, offer him a great and enduring drama. He is a writer of supreme integrity and honesty." -- Colm Toibin, author of "The Master"

Details