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One Tuesday afternoon, we Booktopians received an invitation that sent a flurry of excitement throughout the office. We were invited to spend an evening with Australian literary giant Tim Winton, four-time winner of the Miles Franklin Award.<\/p>\n
At some point in your lives, we’re sure you’ve picked up at least one of Tim’s incredible novels. His first novel,\u00a0An Open Swimmer<\/em><\/a>, won the 1981 Australian Vogel Award; his second novel\u00a0Shallows<\/em><\/a>, won the Miles Franklin Award in 1984; and his third book,\u00a0Scission<\/em><\/a>, won the West Australian Council Literary Award in 1985. <\/span>Some of his other novels include\u00a0Cloudstreet<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Breath,<\/a>\u00a0Dirt Music,<\/em>\u00a0Eyrie<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Boy Behind the Curtain<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n But Tim’s previous writing achievements were not what we were excited to talk with him about. Tim has penned a new novel,\u00a0The Shepherd’s Hut<\/a><\/em>, to be released in March 2018.<\/p>\n “Brutal. That is the word that best describes Tim Winton\u2019s new novel,\u00a0The Shepherd\u2019s Hut,” <\/i>says Booktopia’s John.\u00a0“Brutal. I felt bruised and winded on finishing it. Parched and dusty. I stared around me and the familiar was unfamiliar. The valued, valueless.\u00a0Jaxie Clackton is a speck on the huge expanse of the WA desert. He is on the run from the law. The outcast\u2019s outcast just desperate to find the one person who really gets him.”<\/p>\n Read John’s full review of\u00a0The Shepherd’s Hut<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not only was it great to chat one-on-one with Tim but we were lucky enough to get a little reading from Tim himself. Jaxie’s raw personality (profanity\u00a0included!) leapt off the page, Tim’s\u00a0animated\u00a0reading instantly drawing us into Jaxie’s messy world.<\/p>\n Tim was in the middle of writing another story when Jaxie crawled into his imagination and stubbornly refused to leave until he found his way onto the page. Tim said that an image of the initial tragic incident of the book (no spoilers, I promise)\u00a0dripped into him like acid burn<\/em>. Well, with imagery like that, we’re hooked!<\/p>\n The incredible landscape is a character unto itself and was\u00a0a source of much interest that night as well. Tim spoke of how he never travels to a place with the intention of using it as research. Instead, he finds that when he comes across a landscape that speaks to him, like the dusty and barren setting of\u00a0The Shepherd’s Hut<\/em>, he is then inspired to write about it. Tim’s landscapes are as much a character as any of his protagonists. In fact, Tim spoke of how the landscapes have an immense affect on\u00a0his characters, shaping them so significantly that, if you took his character Jaxie out of this environment and put him somewhere completely different, he would not be Jaxie anymore.<\/p>\n We cannot wait to hear what other readers think of\u00a0The Shepherd’s Hut<\/em> but we have every faith that it is set to become an Australian classic.<\/p>\n We are lucky enough to have a stack of\u00a0signed<\/em> copies of\u00a0The Shepherd’s Hut<\/em> for you, our readers! Stock is limited though, so hurry and get yours here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Listen to John’s interview with Tim on his recent book\u00a0The Boy Behind the Curtain<\/em>:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_5788-1.jpg\")
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During our Q&A with Tim,\u00a0a woman in the room said that\u00a0The Shepherd’s Hut<\/em> was the perfect book for bookclub. Jaxie is such a deep, fascinating character. Tim was worried that Jaxie’s rough demeanour would be off-putting for some readers but the entire room hurried to assure him that it was not the case. We’re not saying we’d welcome Jaxie into our homes for a cup of tea but he makes for a\u00a0intruging subject.<\/p>\n