"It is not really possible to describe, in a short space, the
originality and depth of this long and beautifully crafted book." --A.S.
Byatt, Guardian
Laura Fraser grows up in Sydney, motherless, with a cold, professional
father and an artistic bent. Ravi Mendis lives on the other side of the
globe--exploring the seductive new world of the Internet, his father
dead, his mother struggling to get by. Their stories alternate
throughout Michelle de Kretser's ravishing novel, culminating in
unlikely fates for them both, destinies influenced by travel--voluntary
in her case, enforced in his.
With money from an inheritance, Laura sets off to see the world,
eventually returning to Sydney to work for a publisher of travel guides.
There she meets Ravi, now a Sri Lankan political exile who wants only to
see a bit of Australia and make a living. Where do these two disparate
characters, and an enthralling array of others, truly belong? With her
trademark subtlety, wit, and dazzling prose, Michelle de Kretser shows
us that, in the 21st century, they belong wherever they want
to and can be--home or away.
