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Bluebottle

Belinda Castles

$36.99

Paperback

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English
Allen & Unwin
23 May 2018
Set in Sydney's Northern Beaches, Bluebottle is an evocative story of a family bound by an inescapable past, from the award-winning author of The River Baptists and Hannah and Emil.

As he tilted the blinds she saw her mother in her tennis whites, standing at the kitchen bench, staring out into the dark bushland that bordered their houses. That was what Tricia did these days, looked into the bush as though it would attack one of them.

On a sweltering day in a cliff-top beach shack, Jack and Lou Bright grow suspicious about the behaviour of their charismatic, unpredictable father, Charlie. A girl they know has disappeared, and as the day unfolds, Jack's eruptions of panic, Lou's sultry rebellions and their little sister Phoebe's attention-seeking push the family towards revelation.

Twenty years later, the Bright children have remained close to the cliff edges, russet sand and moody ocean of their childhood. Behind the beautiful surfaces of their daily lives lies the difficult landscape of their past, always threatening to break through. And then, one night in late summer, they return to the house on the cliff...


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By:  
Imprint:   Allen & Unwin
Country of Publication:   Australia
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 153mm, 
Weight:   348g
ISBN:   9781760632847
ISBN 10:   1760632848
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Belinda Castles won the Australian/Vogel's literary award for The River Baptists in 2006 and was one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists for 2008. Her next novel, Hannah & Emil, won the Asher Literary Award for 2012-13. She has recently returned from teaching in the UK and is currently a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Sydney. Belinda lives with her husband and daughters on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Reviews for Bluebottle

'A tense, vividly drawn exploration of a family struggling to survive its secrets - Bluebottle cuts deeply through the veneer of Australian suburban life.' - Mark Brandi, author of Wimmera 'Bluebottle is a tour de force, utterly assured, intricately designed and brilliantly imagined. This is a remarkable portrait of family anguish, gradually unfolded: engrossing, suspenseful and deeply moving...' - Gail Jones, author of Six Bells and The Death of Noah Glass 'Castles transcends her subject matter with her insight into the way the ripples of childhood become the substance of an adult life, and she peels back the layers of behaviour and motivation until Lou, Jack and Phoebe are vulnerable before us...It's exquisitely touching and Bilgola is gorgeously described with all its moods and beauty...What matters is the humanity of Castles' people and how they imperfectly negotiate the waves of adults that buffeted their younger selves. Bluebottle is a wonderful novel and a likely turning point in Castles' career.' - The Saturday Paper


  • Long-listed for Best Crime Fiction 2019 (Australia)
  • Long-listed for Davitt Awards 2019 (Australia)
  • Long-listed for Stella Prize 2019 (Australia)

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