![]() She has loved and supported tiny Titch through the early years of their marriage because she hated how he was bullied by his braggart of a father, Dan. ![]() Irene is plucky, capable, generous and impulsive. Irene and Bachhuber narrate the novel’s story in more or less alternating chapters, and part of the narrative is the growing attraction between them. Carey relishes all the detail of their preparation: Irene worrying about the dust in the outback clogging the Holden air cleaner, stretching a stocking over its wire mesh as an extra filter Titch showing their neighbour Willie Bachhuber how to “remove the shackle bolt from the leaf spring”, jacking the spring up “so the eye moves along the wood to the spot where the shackle can be fitted”.īachhuber navigates: brilliantly, because he loves maps and once worked as assistant to the map librarian of the state library. Driving a car is all in the bum, he unromantically explains, “and her bum is a perfect instrument for the job”. Titch Bobs is the best car salesman in rural Victoria, and enters the trials as a publicity stunt for his new car showroom he takes along his wife, Irene, mother of their two children. This novel is his opportunity to write with love about both the landscape and the engineering. Carey’s parents ran a motor business in Bacchus Marsh in Victoria, where the book begins: as a boy he followed the trials with passionate enthusiasm, and he understands their romance from the inside – testing the genius of the cars’ engineering, and the ingenuity and skill of the drivers, against Australia’s raw and resistant natural landscape.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |