Thea Astley Knihy

In her flat above Drylands's newsagency, Janet Deakin is writing a book for the world's last reader. Little has changed in her 50 years, except for the coming of cable TV. Loneliness is almost a religion, and still everyone knows your business. But the town is being outmanoeuvred by drought and begins to empty, pouring itself out like water into sand. Small minds shrink even smaller in the vastness of the land. One man is forced out by council rates and bigotry; another sells his property, risking the lot to build his dream. And all of them are shadowed by violence of some sort—these people whose only victory over the town is in leaving it.

The first published collection of poetry by Australian literary legend Thea Astley. This exciting collection by Australian literary legend Thea Astley brings together for the first time many poems that have never been seen or published. Winning multiple prizes for her fiction, including four Miles Franklin Awards, Astley's earliest ambition was to write poetry. It remained her private passion throughout her student days and into adulthood. These surprising and satisfying poems chart her development as a writer, evoking wartime Brisbane, the natural landscape and small-town life.