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Description
"A novel of love and war that traces the life of one man--an Australian surgeon--from a prisoner-of-war camp on the Thai-Burma Death Railway during World War II, up to the present"--
Media reviews
This novel would have been far more powerful and coherent if Amy were excised from the story. It is the story of Dorrigo, as one man among many P.O.W.’s in the Asian jungle, that is the beating heart of this book: an excruciating, terrifying, life-altering story that is an indelible fictional
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testament to the prisoners there. Taken by themselves, these chapters create a slim, compelling story: Odysseus’s perseverance through a bloody war and his return home at last to Penelope (in this case, Ella) and his efforts, like his fellow soldiers’, to see if he can put the horrors and suffering of war in the rearview mirror, and somehow construct a fulfilling Act II to a broken life. Show Less
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2014)
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2015)
The Economist Best Books ([2014])
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — Fiction — 2015)
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Longlist — Fiction — 2015)
New South Wales Premier's Literary Award (Shortlist — 2014)
Bad Sex in Fiction Award (Shortlist — 2014)
Australian Book Industry Awards (Shortlist — Literary Fiction — 2014)
Waterstones Book of the Year (Shortlist — 2014)
Queensland Literary Awards (Finalist — Fiction — 2014)
Voss Literary Prize (Longlist — 2014)
Tasmanian Literary Awards (Winner — [2015])
Miles Franklin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2014)
The Indie Book Award (Winner — Fiction — 2014)
Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Shortlist — Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction — 2014)
BookPeople Booksellers' Choice Award (Shortlist — 2014)
Prime Minister's Literary Award (Winner — Fiction — 2014)
NPR: Books We Love (2014)
Historical Novel Society Editors' Choice (Literary)
The Observer Book of the Year (Fiction — 2014)
Notable Books List (2015)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book ([2014])
Language
Original publication date
2013