Cloudstreet

From Publishers Weekly Elements of a psychological suspense thriller and a gut-wrenching love story blend into this irresistible narrative, Winston's 13th novel, written in supple, lyrically charged prose. Australian expatriate Scully is a working-class bloke with a "wonky eye... Brillopad hair" and a "severely used face." All the more wonder that beautiful, upper-middle-class Jennifer married him eight years ago. The adoring Scully has since followed her every whim, trailing along with her and their seven-year-old daughter, Billie, across Europe. Jennifer decided they must buy the tiny, dilapidated cottage in rural Ireland that Scully now cleans and rebuilds with the demon energy of his love while awaiting his wife and child to return from Australia, where Jennifer has gone to sell their possessions. On the night before their arrival, Scully sees a troupe of ghost horsemen, their torches burning, arrayed before the ancient castle keep on his neighbor's land. The next day, a traumatized, mute Billie deplanes without her mother, who has somehow disappeared at Heathrow airport. To find her, Scully and Billie begin an odyssey to all the places they lived while Jennifer was aspiring to fulfill what she considered her artistic potential. Gradually, Scully realizes that there are things about Jennifer he could never admit to himself; tormented by fear, desperation and heartache, he almost loses his sanity. Precocious Billie, who knows things her father will never understand, uses the power of her love to redeem them both. Perhaps Billie is a little too wise and resilient and Scully not credibly protective of her welfare, dragging her into perilous situations. But Winton propels the narrative so quickly that one accepts Scully's obsession and Billie's compliance. Winton is particularly deft in creating the supporting characters in this powerful drama, all of whom assume vividly dimensional form. He also conjures up settings with a magician's hand: the frigid, barren Irish countryside; Australia drowsing in summer heat; a Greek island shorn of tourists in winter; Paris, Florence, Amsterdam. His terse, lyrical descriptions, the throbbing energy of his prose, can illuminate a scene like a lightning bolt, cut like a knife or wring the heart. Readers who met this stunning Australian writer in Cloudstreet or That Eye, the Sky, will find his talent fiercely honed. Author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal The destructive and redemptive powers of love are the focus of this new novel by Winton (That Eye, That Sky, 1987). Fred Scully has gone to Ireland, where he is restoring a dilapidated cottage and waiting for Jennifer, his wife, and their seven-year-old daughter, Billie, to arrive from Australia. But on the appointed day, Billie arrives without her mother, too traumatized to explain what happened during their last stop at Heathrow. Thus begins a mad search through Greece, Italy, France, and Holland, always just missing the elusive Jennifer. Though action-filled, this is primarily a study of the psychic price paid by an open-hearted man who loves deeply, if not wisely. The novel's strengths lie in its richly detailed settings and in the archetypal fury of its portrait of psychic dissolution. Recommended for most public libraries.?Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Cloudstreet racconta la storia di due famiglie, i Lamb e i Pickles, le cui vite inevitabilmente entrano in collisione nel momento in cui, per ragioni diverse e indipendenti dalla loro volontà, si vedono costrette a condividere la grossa e fatiscente casa al numero 1 di Cloudstreet. I Lamb, in fuga dalle conseguenze di un miracolo mal riuscito, si trasferiscono nella nuova casa con sei figli e una vacillante fede in Dio. I Pickles, da parte loro, portano nella nuova casa una cieca fede nell'imprevedibile ombra, cioè la fortuna. Sam Pickles è, infatti, un incallito giocatore d'azzardo con tre figli e una moglie mai sazia di alcol e di sesso. Le due famiglie costituiscono un gruppo assai eterogeneo e per tre generazioni assistiamo ai fallimenti, al dolore, alla disperazione, e alle piccole gioie che spingono tutti a non mollare mai. La casa si anima e insieme a loro respira e geme, si lamenta e sospira, subisce i mutamenti del tempo e della storia. E ogni tappa del loro faticosissimo viaggio è segnata dalla misteriosa presenza di un angelo aborigeno. I Pickles e i Lamb, come la maggior parte dei personaggi dei romanzi di Tim Winton, posseggono una forza che nasce dalla voglia di capire chi sono e di dare forma al mondo in cui vivono. Non hanno né soldi né fortuna, ma dispongono dell'amore e dell'affetto dei famigliari che permetterà loro di cancellare l'antagonismo e le incomprensioni che hanno fatto da sfondo ai loro vent'anni di vita comune.