Orphaned at the tender age of 17, she inherits the proceeds from the sale of her parent’s farm, promptly goes to the city and buys herself a glass factory. (Horses – he was fortunate – his winnings paid his way through college … even if he did cut a shambolic figure.) A father whose heart he broke by defecting to become an Anglican minister and a compulsive gambler. What was I expecting? A desperado tale set in the gun-slinging, drunken Australian outback perhaps? (No idea if they slung guns in Australia – apologies if not, there’s no accounting for my imagination …) I certainly didn’t expect to start on the Devon coast with the story of a young boy and his Plymouth Brethren minister father. This process seems so appropriate to a novel that examines luck, chance and providence in all its many guises. Sometimes the universe must send many signals before I realise that this is a must read and that its reputation is, in fact, very well deserved. Then Kim announced Australian Literature Month and Gaskella decided that she would read it. Then the Folio Society put their edition in the sale for less than a tenner … at that price it would make a lovely edition to my FS collection. I owned my paperback copy for years – it came as part of a set.

Not for me, even if it was written by one of the greats of Australian literature.

All I knew about Oscar and Lucinda, apart from its prize winning credentials, was that it was the story of two gamblers. It’s funny isn’t it how sometimes a novel simply does not call out to be read. Winner 1988 Booker Prize and 1989 Miles Franklin Prize.

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey