Woman of the Inner Sea Thomas Keneally 1993

Dustjacket synopsis:
"A young woman once told Thomas Keneally a true story: one that lodged in his mind and haunted his imagination, becoming the kernel for this enthralling emotive novel. It tells of a marriage that becomes a nightmare, of a distraught woman's flight, actual and symbolic, into the Australian interior, a story of pursuit, tragic accident and a final, strange catharsis."

Quotes:
"Thomas Keneally in top, daring form ..." - Sydney Morning Herald
"One of his best ... uses glimpses of his homeland's history, folklore and natural wonders to lift intriguing events to the level of riveting, sophisticated thriller." - Publishers Weekly USA
"A quintessential tale of modern Australia." - Bulletin
"A novel of mythic stature, it also makes for compulsive reading." - Sunday Telegraph
"A marvellous hybrid narrative - a social satire, a quintessential tale of modern Australia, a rich comedy, an escape and pursuit story, and a saga, replete with fire, flood and marital unhappiness." - The Bulletin

First Paragraph:

A woman in her early thirties, a traveller, the handsome but slightly frowning Kate Gaffney-Kozinski, running across the rain-glossed pavement in Potts Pour, she saw from a poster in front of the closed newsagent's that her defrocked uncle had given another interview to one of those smooth-paged magazines.

She stopped in front of this poster. As an artefact she found it hard and sad to believe in. Her hand sought - beneath the neck of her dress - the scar tissue behind her left shoulder. She had no time - the delicatessen was about to close and she had no coffee for Murray - but she stopped, shuddered, let her breath go in large gasps of steam, and began to weep.

From the Coronet paperback edition, 1993.

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Last modified: April 23, 2004.