An exquisite and moving new novel from this master storyteller.
On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying the glorious surroundings and the play of light on water.
But each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China's Cultural Revolution.
Told over the course of a single Saturday, Five Bells describes four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols. But it is a fifth person, a child, whose presence at the Quay haunts the day and who will overshadow everything that unfolds. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed.
Five Bells is a novel of singular beauty and power by one of Australia's most gifted novelists.
Read Gail Jones's interview about Five Bells with the author of Indelible Ink Fiona McGregor.
Barbara Jefferis Award Shortlist 2012
Foal's Bread
$32.99 – Trade paperback / Allen & Unwin
Read our Q&A with Gillian Mears about Foal's Bread.
The sound of horses' hooves turns hollow on the farms west of Wirri. If a man can still ride, if he hasn't totally lost the use of his legs, if he hasn't died to t... Buy or find out more →
Too Close To Home
$32.95 – Trade paperback / Vintage
How tenuous the links are that build a life. Too Close To Home takes us right inside who we really are.
Freya writes uncomfortable domestic dramas. Her friends work in theatre and film, show in galleries, talk politics a... Buy or find out more →
When We Have Wings
$32.99 – Paperback book / Allen & Unwin
In a world divided into fliers and non-fliers, how far would you go to be able to fly? How much would you sacrifice - perhaps your own child? A beautifully written and compellingly original novel of sacrifice, betrayal a... Buy or find out more →
Cold Light
$32.95$27.95 – Trade paperback / Vintage
Read Frank Moorhouse's interview with Patrick Allington about Cold Light.
It is 1950, the League of Nations has collapsed and the newly formed United Nations has rejected all those who worked and fought for the League. ... Buy or find out more →
Five Bells
$19.95 – Paperback book / Vintage
An exquisite and moving new novel from this master storyteller.
On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with... Buy or find out more →
All That I Am
$22.95 – Paperback book / Penguin
ABIA Book of the Year 2012
Winner of the Barbara Jefferis Award 2012
Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award 2012
Read our Q&A with Anna Funder about All That I Am.
'When Hitler came to power I was in the bath. The... Buy or find out more →
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2012 Fiction Shortlist
All That I Am
$29.95 – Trade paperback / Hamish Hamilton
ABIA Book of the Year 2012
Winner of the Barbara Jefferis Award 2012
Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award 2012
Read our Q&A with Anna Funder about All That I Am.
'When Hitler came to power I was in the bath. The... Buy or find out more →
Five Bells
$19.95 – Paperback book / Vintage
An exquisite and moving new novel from this master storyteller.
On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with... Buy or find out more →
Autumn Laing
$40.00$34.95 – Hardcover book / Allen & Unwin
Read our Q&A with Alex Miller on Autumn Laing
Autumn Laing has long outlived the legendary circle of artists she cultivated in the 1930s. Now 'old and skeleton gaunt', she reflects on her tumultuous relationship wit... Buy or find out more →
That Deadman Dance
$22.99 – Paperback book / Pan Macmillan
Winner of the 2011 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Big-hearted, moving and richly rewarding, That Deadman Dance is set in the first decades of the 19th century in the area around what is now Albany, Western Australia. In ... Buy or find out more →
Bright And Distant Shores
$29.99 – Trade paperback / Allen & Unwin
brilliant novel that is at once a rollicking yarn and a beautiful love story, with an amazing cast of unforgettable characters and exotic settings - a feat of imagination and storytelling.
Description They were showing t... Buy or find out more →
The Roving Party
$27.99 – Paperback book / Allen & Unwin
An unforgettable new novel from the 2011 winner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. 'I really, really am in awe of the amount of work that's gone into this...' Margo Lanagan.
'I'm still talking about this story to pe... Buy or find out more →