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cannot take a slash or park the truck without considering him." As the novel opens, Butcher is fresh out of jail for robbing his ex-wife of his own paintings, paintings that became hers when the marriage ended. Exiled to a remote house owned by a fussy former patron, Butcher is trying to get his career back on track, avoid his creditors and manage Hugh, when - on a stormy, flooding evening - he receives a visit from the mysterious
Marlene, described by Hugh as "a GAMINE with tiny boobies and a silk dress you could have fitted in your pocket with your hanky".
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Through marriage to
Olivier Leibovitz, Marlene is the holder of the droit moral, the hereditary right to authenticate paintings, in this case those of Olivier's dead father, Jacques Leibovitz. Somehow, Butcher and Hugh's farmer neighbour has recently acquired a Leibovitz of mysterious provenance, and
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is the story of
Michael "Butcher" Boone, an Australian artist whose career is having an early and comprehensive twilight. The novel alternates between the viewpoint of Butcher himself, and that of his "damaged two hundred and twenty pound brother" Hugh. "There is always Hugh," Butcher says, "and you
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is a novel that will get right up your nose. Carey has produced a humane, gloriously
Australian book of grand passion, bad breath and high mischief. It is a rudely brilliant, infuriatingly beautiful, belligerently profane work of
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Marlene arrives, a vision in Manolo
Blahniks tramping through knee-deep mud, to put a validating stamp on it, immediately sending its worth into the stratosphere.
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293:: "Carey frames a story that shifts before our eyes -- maddeningly complex, hypnotically brilliant, entirely original."
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Australian Book
Industry Awards (ABIA), Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year, 2007: shortlisted
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248:, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book, 2007: shortlisted
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236:, The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 2006: winner
260:, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2007: winner
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314:"The sacred in the profane" by Patrick Ness,
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282:: "..let me be entirely clear about this:
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258:New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
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527:The Fat Man in History and Other Stories
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19:For the 1989 novel by Saul Bellow, see
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267:International Dublin Literary Award
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234:Victorian Premier's Literary Award
206:Victorian Premier's Literary Award
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420:The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
660:Novels by Peter Carey (novelist)
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436:True History of the Kelly Gang
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468:Parrot and Olivier in America
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252:Miles Franklin Literary Award
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632:Until the End of the World
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246:Commonwealth Writers Prize
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38:First edition (Australia)
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670:Faber & Faber books
503:Short story collections
329:Review by Ron Charles,
511:The Fat Man in History
476:The Chemistry of Tears
228:Awards and nominations
665:Alfred A. Knopf books
597:Letter from New York
492:A Long Way From Home
78:(Australia & US)
59:Tomek Sikora (photo)
27:Theft: A Love Story
16:Novel by Peter Carey
581:A Letter to Our Son
452:Theft: A Love Story
331:The Washington Post
291:The Washington Post
284:Theft: A Love Story
254:, 2007: shortlisted
208:prize for fiction.
185:Theft: A Love Story
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269:, 2008: longlisted
242:, 2006: longlisted
202:Vance Palmer Prize
200:. It won the 2006
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605:Wrong about Japan
589:30 Days in Sydney
562:The Big Bazoohley
543:Collected Stories
444:My Life as a Fake
412:The Tax Inspector
404:Oscar and Lucinda
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161:My Life as a Fake
98:Publication place
81:Faber & Faber
54:Cover artist
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554:Juvenile fiction
535:Exotic Pleasures
460:His Illegal Self
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212:Plot Summary
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655:2006 novels
616:Screenplays
573:Non-fiction
396:Illywhacker
373:Peter Carey
198:Peter Carey
57:Jenny Grigg
48:Peter Carey
649:Categories
519:War Crimes
428:Jack Maggs
298:References
194:Australian
93:9 May 2006
371:Works by
115:Paperback
101:Australia
72:Publisher
150:62331104
111:Hardback
64:Language
484:Amnesia
274:Reviews
196:writer
109:Print (
67:English
21:A Theft
635:(1991)
627:(1985)
608:(2004)
600:(2001)
592:(2001)
584:(1994)
565:(1995)
546:(1994)
538:(1990)
530:(1980)
522:(1979)
514:(1974)
495:(2017)
487:(2014)
479:(2012)
471:(2010)
463:(2008)
455:(2006)
447:(2003)
439:(2000)
431:(1997)
423:(1994)
415:(1991)
407:(1988)
399:(1985)
391:(1981)
380:Novels
204:, the
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125:272 pp
113:&
44:Author
624:Bliss
388:Bliss
287:art."
217:Theft
190:novel
188:is a
122:Pages
76:Knopf
144:OCLC
131:ISBN
83:(UK)
192:by
651::
306:^
364:e
357:t
350:v
117:)
23:.
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