Behind the Moon
Crows Nest
:
Allen and Unwin
,
2005
Z1201374
2005
single work
novel
(taught in 8 units)
'Justin Cheong, Tien Ho and Nigel Gibbo' Gibson have been best friends since school in a world divided along ethnic lines into skips, wogs and slopes. Together they've survived a suburban tragedy, compulsory karaoke nights and Justin's mother's obsession with clean toilets. They thought they would always be there for each other but they hadn't counted on the effects of jealousy, betrayal, and their desire to escape themselves.
'Ho Ly-Linh, Tien's mother, wasn't around for much of Tien's childhood. Left behind in a rapidly changing Vietnam, she risked everything to follow her family to Australia. Having spent so much of this dangerous journey alone, she is ready now to find love. On Saturday, 6 September 1997 they all meet at the Cheongs' house for the first time in years because Princess Diana is dead and their mothers have decided to hold a Dead Diana Dinner to watch the funeral on television. Nobody realises just how explosive this dinner will be, or how complicated life is going to get.
'This is a story of three families' discovery of the meaning of love and friendship.' [Source: publisher's website]
Flying in Silence
Rose Bay
:
Brandl and Schlesinger
,
2001
Z900112
2001
single work
novel
(taught in 2 units)
“Gerry Turcotte’s Flying in Silence is a book of boyhood memoirs and family secrets, yet it creates a genre all of its own. It contains an anatomy of depression and speaks of a family’s inability to cohere…it swells with compassion and a deep commitment to our life and living... musical in both its shape and function... a testament to being human.” - Australian Book Review
