Ever since Jaxie's mum died of cancer, leaving him alone with his violent, drunk father, Jaxie has wished his dad dead. Then one day he returns home to find his father's body in the garage, crushed by his own car as he tried to mend it with dodgy equipment. Jaxie knows immediately he has to leave, to escape the town and the accusations of murder that will come his way, and to get to Magnet to see his cousin Lee, the only friend he has ever had and the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with. So Jaxie sets out into the vast bush on foot to hide out until he is sure he isn't being followed, avoiding the highway, surviving on the animals he shoots. Eventually he comes across a solitary camp. Its sole resident, ex-priest Fintan MacGillis, has been there for eight years, visited only every six months by someone who brings him supplies. Fintan's life of isolation is both escape from a terrible crime and exile, his punishment that he will never have the opportunity to confess. Drawn together by an agreement that neither will speak about their past, Jaxie and Fintan form a bond, and Jaxie finds himself forced to grow from a child to a man in order to protect someone more vulnerable. The Shepherd's Hut is an exquisite coming of age novel. As Jaxie tracks across the Australian landscape - a place that provides safe haven, harbours criminals, and threatens to kill those who haven't reckoned with its hot, waterless vastness - Winton draws a picture of a child becoming a man: fierce, loving, ruthless.
Industry Reviews
Superb. It's rare to feel fury and hope on the surface of the skin at the same time, and more rare to find that convincing in a story -- Cynan Jones, author of Cove Shot through with the breathtaking evocation of landscape that is Winton's forte, The Shepherd's Hut is a hymn to the wild forces of nature and unsentimental belonging. Winton's enviable ability to elicit passion for Jaxie through his immaculate, poetic and troubled rush of vernacular-no matter how terrible Jaxie's actions-is broken, beautiful and ugly in all the best ways. -- Ray Robinson, author of Electricity Tim Winton's Jaxie Clackton brings to mind the voices of other great survivors in literature, such as Huckleberry Finn and Oliver Twist, who struggle against impossible odds with pluck, common sense, and a refreshingly keen command of the vernacular. Once you start reading this book, you won't want to put it down. A powerful, most compelling story -- Brad Watson, author of Miss Jane Describes the chaotic struggle of new masculinity better than anything else I've read. As an exploration of the intergenerational trauma that plagues men, it couldn't be more timely. Seriously, it's incredible -- Ben Quilty A masterpiece from a masterful storyteller. We have not seen many people like Jaxie in Australian literature. When reading this book I wondered if Winton had actually found someone like Jaxie and had simply recorded him telling his incredible story. This is the magic of this book. The voice is so authentic and the language of this young character rings true to the people I have met throughout my life. I will not forget this book -- Alexis Wright, author of Carpentaria A richly compassionate work, deeply informed by Winton's poetic genius -- Alex Miller, author of Journey to the Stone Country Landscape and destiny are inextricable in Tim Winton's latest novel, and the result is a gritty realism that ultimately propels the story into the timelessness of a parable. All that I love about Winton's work is here: the poetry of the colloquial, fully realized characters, and the fearlessness to enter the deepest mysteries of being. The Shepherd's Hut is a brilliant reminder that Winton is one of the world's great living novelists. -- Ron Rash, author of Serena Even a regular Tim Winton novel - if such a thing exists - would knock most other novels into a cocked hat,
but The Shepherd's Hut is Winton at the top of his game, and that's saying something. A fierce, pungent, slangy,
humdinger of a book, with a real kick in the tail. Fiction doesn't get much better than this -- Rupert Thomson, author of Divided Kingdom Winton's novel of breaking and mending is a searing, ardent and deeply empathetic dive into the turmoil of a mutilated heart. I will never be able to unhear the voice of young Jaxie Clackton, plangent and profane, who is destined to become one of the greatest characters in Australian literature. -- Geraldine Brooks, author of Year of Wonders A novel that reminds us what fiction can do. Here is a voice that digs into your viscera and changes you from the inside. This is fiction in the raw. -- Ross Raisin, author of God's Own Country The Shepherd's Hut is wonderful. Brutal, agonizing, tender. Ultimately, it's a story of redemption and hope -- Sarah Winman, author of When God Was a Rabbit and Tin Man
