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Overview
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
On a property in New South Wales, a widower named Holland lives with his daughter, Ellen. Over the years as she grows into a beautiful woman, Holland plants hundreds of different eucalyptus trees on his land, filling the landscape, making a virtual outdoor museum of trees. When Ellen is nineteen, Holland announces that she may only marry the man who can correctly name the species of each and every gum tree on his property. A strange contest begins, and Ellen is left unmoved by her suitors until she chances on a strange young man resting under the Coolibah tree whose stories will amaze and dazzle her. A modern fairy tale, and an unforgettable love story, that bristles with spiky truths and unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. Eucalyptus affirms the seductive power of storytelling itself.
Synopsis
The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen. When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of the hundreds of gum trees on his property. Ellen is uninterested in the many suitors who arrive from around the world, until one afternoon she chances on a strange, handsome young man resting under a Coolibah tree. In the days that follow, he spins dozens of tales set in cities, deserts, and faraway countries. As the contest draws to a close, Ellen and the stranger's meetings become more erotic, the stories more urgent. Murray Bail's rich narrative is filled with unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. Eucalyptus is a shimmering love story that affirms the beguiling power of storytelling itself.
Washington Post
A mesmerizing novel, Eucalyptus offers eccentric meditations on art, landscape, gender differences, history and much else....Curious power is precisely what this novel delivers.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"You will never forget what is at the heart of this book—one of the great and most surprising courtships in literature."—Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient"Incandescent . . . Eucalyptus bristles with psychosexual tension as it addresses the human urges to manipulate, possess, and surrender—in other words, the whole imbroglio of Love with a capital L."—Michael Upchurch, The New York Times Book Review
Washington Post
A mesmerizing novel, Eucalyptus offers eccentric meditations on art, landscape, gender differences, history and much else....Curious power is precisely what this novel delivers.The Seattle Times
A minor masterpiece . . . One of the best courtship stories ever written.Michael Upchurch
. . .[I]t's a pleasure simply to be immersed in Bail's caprice-prone mind. . . .the only warning readers need is that [the book] leaves you hungering for more — far more — of its author's strange and spry imaginings. —The New York Times Book ReviewDaneet Steffens
...[A] sweet, swift story....[about] the deceptive course of true love.—Entertainment Weeky