- Miles Franklin Literary Award 2005 · Shortlist
The Gift of Speed
The Gift of Speed
Steven Carroll (born 1949)
English editions
Written in EnglishThe Gift of Speed
Windmill Books · United Kingdom · 7 July 2011 · Paperback · 368 pages
The Gift of Speed
Fourth Estate · Australia · 2004 · Paperback · 353 pages
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In the summer of 1960–61, Frank Worrell's West Indies team is touring Australia, and sixteen-year-old Michael can think of little else. His home is an invented suburb at the far edge of Melbourne, its roads newly sealed but the paddocks still close, and he believes that the gift of speed could take him away from it. Around him are his mother and father, Rita and Vic, who are drifting apart; Vic's mother, aged seventy, who moves in for a while; and a factory owner nobody quite knows, who tears around the streets after dark in a sports car. For one summer the inward-looking suburb is opened up to the world, and Michael comes to understand more about his parents, about Kathleen Marsden, a girl he meets, and about who he is.
AI-generated summary
About the book
- Form
- Novel
- Genres
- Coming of age, Family (assigned by AI)
- Set in
- Australia, 1960–1961
- First published
- 2004
- Author's age
- 55 when first published
- ISBN
-
9780732278328 (Fourth Estate, Australia)
9780099537281 (Windmill Books, United Kingdom)
- More
- Wikidata