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Holden's Performance : A Novel by Murray Bail — book cover

Holden's Performance : A Novel

by Murray Bail
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Overview

Holden's Performance is the story of Holden Shadbolt, a guileless and matter-of-fact innocent as he passes through the cities and landscape of Australia. His reassuring silent presence and photographic memory make him useful to men of power and women who appear to need his protection. He is surrounded by larger than life figures whose exploits and adventures Holden follows—ex-Corporal Frank 'Bloodnut' McBee, the scrap dealer who woos his mother; his uncle Vern, a shortsighted proofreader who likes facts and eating newspaper with is breakfast cereal; and the crippled artist Harriet, whose twists and curves appeal to Holden as he holds to his own unswervingly straight lines.

About the Author, Murray Bail

Murray Bail's fiction, which includes Eucalyptus, Homesickness, The Drover's Wife and other Stories and Camouflage, has received many major awards, among them the Miles Franklin Award in Australia and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. He is also the author of two works of non-fiction, Ian Fairweather and Longhand: A Writer's Notebook. He lives in Sydney.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"A work of dazzling imagination."—Independent

"Holden's Performance is a triumph."—The Australian

"Bail is a writer of great talent and extraordinary concentration."—Melbourne Age

"Astonishing in its range . . . superbly written, much of it is like the click of a camera shutter in its sharpness and impassivity . . . extraordinarily wide-ranging and inventive."—Times on Sunday

Book Details

Published
May 1, 2002
Publisher
Picador USA
Pages
384
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780312420802

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