Kindling Does for Firewood Richard King 1996

Dustjacket synopsis:

"MARGARET: 'He is sweet, and earnest, as I say, and he generously and with great endeavour (but hopelesslessly) peformed oral sex on me for some twenty - twenty-five minutes, which I contentedly received, and feigned appreciation with crocodile moans and crocodile groans. His heart is in the right place, even if his tongue never was.'

"WILLIAM: 'Margaret and I have been going out for about six weeks. They have been blissful. We cannot find fault. I think we absolutely delight in each other. And one wonders how long such exquisite perfection can last. One watches for the trigger, for the germ, for the bug or bruise that will spread the infection that will turn cancerous that will kill the relationship. It happens in every relationship. The outbreak of the hateful telling.'

"Kindling Does for Firewood tells the story of the headstrong Margaret and her hapless boyfriend William as they fall in and out of love. From their first date this boy meets girl novel takes on new life as we hear both sides of the story. William and Margaret work their way through the familiar territories of frustrated love, earnest politics, sexual temptations and fear of impending boredom. This is a novel about delight and joy, anger and sex, humour and bad behaviour. This is a world where people stuff up - spectacularly and often. But more importantly, it's a world where people do give a stuff."

About the Author:
Richard King was born in 1968 and lives in Melbourne. His play The Life and Death of Yorick the Fool was performed at the 1994 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Kindling Does for Firewood is his first novel.

First Paragraph:

When my cousins and my sister and I played our games together on Christmas Day and on our family birthdays, the best person to be if you were a boy was Peter Pan. Captain Hook was fun as well (actually Captain Hook was pretty grouse, the accent is an actor's dream) and to be a Lost Boy was kind of okay. Our dog Bert always seemed to enjoy being the crocodile with the ticking clock, but Peter Pan was best. You were in every scene, you were the centre of the action, and you got to wear a green plastic garbage bag.

And when my cousins and my sister and I gathered and played together on Christmas Day and on birthdays, the best person to be if you were a girl was Aunt Peggy.

Aunt Peggy was my Grandmother's oldest sister and she died when my Grandmother was nine years old.

From the Allen and Unwin paperback edition, 1996.

Notes:
This novel was the winner of the Australian/Vogel Award in 1995.

This page and its contents are copyright © 2001 by Perry Middlemiss, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Last modified: April 18, 2001.