"I grew up on the world's largest island." This apparently simple fact is the starting point for Tim Winton's beautiful, evocative, and sometimes provocative memoir of Australia's unique landscape, and how that singular place has shaped him and his writing. For over thirty years, Winton has written novels in which the natural world is as much a living presence as any character. What is true of his work is also true of his life: from boyhood, his relationship with the world around him rock pools, sea caves, scrub, and swamp was as vital as any other connection.
Camping in hidden inlets, walking in high rocky desert, diving in reefs, bobbing in the sea between surfing sets, Winton has felt the place seep into him, with its rhythms, its dangers, its strange sustenance, and learned to see landscape as a living process. In Island Home, Winton brings this landscape and its influence on the island nation's identity and art vividly to life through personal accounts and environmental history.
Wise, rhapsodic, exalted in language as unexpected and wild as the landscape it describes Island Home is a brilliant, moving portrait of Australia from one of its finest writers.
Industry Reviews
Named a "Top Ten Memoir for Spring 2017" by Publishers Weekly Praise for Tim Winton "Winton, one of Australia's most acclaimed novelists, excels at conveying the shadowy side of his country's beauty."--New York Times Praise for Island Home "Insightful and vibrant . . . In part a love song to Australia and also an attempt to trace how this love affair began . . . Island Home is a delight to read: Winton's words chink like loose change, a foreign currency, mysterious. But more than anything, the book is a call to arms, a manifesto. It beseeches us to revere the land that sustains us, crying out to us for help."--Guardian "Lyrical and artistic . . . The evocative beauty of Island Home is not to be denied.""--Foreword Reviews "Winton's Australia is teeming and brimming and shrieking and squawking with life."--Sydney Morning Herald "Like Wordsworth, Winton understands and feels the 'abiding power' of certain places. . . . The writer of memoir can be triumphantly personal, quixotic, eccentric, risky, and daring. In Island Home, Winton is all of these. This most exquisite of prose writers eases stylistic discipline out a notch or two. . . . The last chapter of this inspiring, sometimes painfully frank, wonderful memoir is called 'Paying Respect, ' and . . . its clarion call is Blakean: everything that lives is holy."--Australian Book Review "Island Home is a powerful and poetic read, an expression of Winton's intense love of the land and the sea, and for Australia's unique flora and fauna."--Weekend Herald (NZ) Named a -Top Ten Memoir for Spring 2017- by Publishers Weekly Praise for Tim Winton -Winton, one of Australia's most acclaimed novelists, excels at conveying the shadowy side of his country's beauty.---New York Times Praise for Island Home -Insightful and vibrant . . . In part a love song to Australia and also an attempt to trace how this love affair began . . . Island Home is a delight to read: Winton's words chink like loose change, a foreign currency, mysterious. But more than anything, the book is a call to arms, a manifesto. It beseeches us to revere the land that sustains us, crying out to us for help.---Guardian -Winton's Australia is teeming and brimming and shrieking and squawking with life.---Sydney Morning Herald -Like Wordsworth, Winton understands and feels the 'abiding power' of certain places. . . . The writer of memoir can be triumphantly personal, quixotic, eccentric, risky, and daring. In Island Home, Winton is all of these. This most exquisite of prose writers eases stylistic discipline out a notch or two. . . . The last chapter of this inspiring, sometimes painfully frank, wonderful memoir is called 'Paying Respect, ' and . . . its clarion call is Blakean: everything that lives is holy.---Australian Book Review -Island Home is a powerful and poetic read, an expression of Winton's intense love of the land and the sea, and for Australia's unique flora and fauna.---Weekend Herald (NZ) Named a "Top Ten Memoir for Spring 2017 by Publishers Weekly Praise for Tim Winton Winton, one of Australia s most acclaimed novelists, excels at conveying the shadowy side of his country s beauty. New York Times Praise for Island Home Insightful and vibrant . . . In part a love song to Australia and also an attempt to trace how this love affair began . . . Island Homeis a delight to read: Winton s words chink like loose change, a foreign currency, mysterious. But more than anything, the book is a call to arms, a manifesto. It beseeches us to revere the land that sustains us, crying out to us for help. Guardian Winton s Australia is teeming and brimming and shrieking and squawking with life. Sydney Morning Herald Like Wordsworth, Winton understands and feels the abiding power of certain places. . . . The writer of memoir can be triumphantly personal, quixotic, eccentric, risky, and daring. InIsland Home, Winton is all of these. This most exquisite of prose writers eases stylistic discipline out a notch or two. . . . The last chapter of this inspiring, sometimes painfully frank, wonderful memoir is called Paying Respect, and . . . its clarion call is Blakean: everything that lives is holy. Australian Book Review Island Homeis a powerful and poetic read, an expression of Winton s intense love of the land and the sea, and for Australia s unique flora and fauna. Weekend Herald(NZ)" Praise for Tim Winton Winton, one of Australia s most acclaimed novelists, excels at conveying the shadowy side of his country s beauty. New York Times Praise for Island Home Insightful and vibrant . . . In part a love song to Australia and also an attempt to trace how this love affair began . . . Island Homeis a delight to read: Winton s words chink like loose change, a foreign currency, mysterious. But more than anything, the book is a call to arms, a manifesto. It beseeches us to revere the land that sustains us, crying out to us for help. Guardian Winton s Australia is teeming and brimming and shrieking and squawking with life. Sydney Morning Herald Like Wordsworth, Winton understands and feels the abiding power of certain places. . . . The writer of memoir can be triumphantly personal, quixotic, eccentric, risky, and daring. InIsland Home, Winton is all of these. This most exquisite of prose writers eases stylistic discipline out a notch or two. . . . The last chapter of this inspiring, sometimes painfully frank, wonderful memoir is called Paying Respect, and . . . its clarion call is Blakean: everything that lives is holy. Australian Book Review Island Homeis a powerful and poetic read, an expression of Winton s intense love of the land and the sea, and for Australia s unique flora and fauna. Weekend Herald(NZ)"
