The Well Dressed Explorer Thea Astley 1962

Dustjacket synopsis:
"George Brewster is the well-dressed explorer. As his career in journalism takes him from city to city, from mistress to mistress, he takes with him his ever-patient wife. Fastidious, pompous and master of the cliche, throughout it all George persists in the illusion that he is the smartest of men."

Quotes:
"Thea Astley is the most enjoyable and provocative of our novelists...she is a delight to read." - Adrian Mitchell, The Australian
"One of Australia's most accomplished writers" - Laurie Clancy, The Age

First Paragraph:

The weight of her on his shoulders was almost too much for him.

They circled the room, the boy on all fours, and he was on the point of collapsing to his elbows with the hiccuping laughter and the pain: the pain as she drove her heels in and said "Giddap, jumbo!"; and the laughter as he turned his pale straining face to one side, to glimpse her leaning smile. "Giddap, jumbo!" Abruptly the scream in his tendons disolved in a supersonic agony and there he was, sprawling on his face while she lurched forward to topple over him onto the dusty playroom floor. A glimpse of navy knickers and plump thighs. Jumbo. Disentangled, they rolled on their backs, coughing and spluttering out the last of the tomfoolery and the images of their burlesque into the breathing-space of an amistice.

From the Penguin paperback edition, 1988.

Notes:
This novel was awarded the 1962 Miles Franklin Award.

This page and its contents are copyright © 1998-2004 by Perry Middlemiss, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Last modified: November 16, 2004.