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The Bay of Contented Men by Robert Drewe

by
November 1989, no. 116

The Bay of Contented Men by Robert Drewe

Pan Books, $24.95 hb, $12.99 pb, 216pp, 0-330-27172-5, 0-330-27092-3pb

The Bay of Contented Men by Robert Drewe

by
November 1989, no. 116

‘When Australians run away, they always run to the coast.’ Robert Drewe has already debunked the myth of the bush as Australia’s heartland, and in The Bodysurfers pictured us living and loving on the very rim of the continent, precariously perched in salty, sweaty, and essentially temporary hedonistic bliss between the threat of the empty outback, the incendiary bush, and the menace of the ocean with its sharp­toothed predators and secret stingers.

Australians – so rarely portrayed in their real element – recognised themselves. The Bodysurfers went to seven editions in five years, an amazing endorsement for a book of contemporary and quite challenging short stories.

Katharine England reviews 'The Bay of Contented Men' by Robert Drewe

The Bay of Contented Men

by Robert Drewe

Pan Books, $24.95 hb, $12.99 pb, 216pp, 0-330-27172-5, 0-330-27092-3pb

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