The Art of the Engine Driver

On a hot summer′s night in the 1950s, the old and the new, diesel and steam, town and country all collide -- and nobody will be left unaffected

As a passenger train leaves Spencer Street Station on its haul to Sydney, a family of three -- Vic, Rita and their son Michael -- are off to a party. George Bedser has invited the whole neighbourhood to celebrate the engagement of his daughter.

Vic is an engine driver, with dreams of being like his hero Paddy Ryan and becoming the master of the smooth ride.

As the neighbours walk to the party, we are drawn into the lives of a bully, a drunk, a restless girl and a young boy forced to grow up before he is ready.

The Art of the Engine Driver is a luminous and evocative tale of ordinary suburban lives, told with an extraordinary power.

′subtle, true and profoundly touching′ Le Monde

′exquisitely crafted ... fresh and irresistible′ Miles Franklin Literary Award Judges

′a little masterpiece′ Hessische Allgemeine

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD, 2002

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA ETRANGER, 2005

ISBN: 9780732288983; ISBN10: 0732288983; Imprint: ; On Sale: 1/11/2008; Format: Paperback; Trimsize: 198 x 129 x 20 mm; Pages: 320; $24.99; ; BISAC1:FIC000000; BISAC2:003-251

	Spirit of Progress The thing that makes you, it never goesA sleek high-speed train glides silently through the French countryside, bearing Michael, an Australian writer, and his travelling world of memory and speculation. Melbourne, 1946, calls to him: the pressure cooker of the city...
	The Lost Life ′This beautiful and poetically attentive novel retrieves a warm, beating heart from Eliot′s haunted, stark, magnificent work of art′ AUSTRALIAN LITERARY REVIEW They may never have a life together, but they will have their moment. They will have this much....
	The Lost Life They may never have a life together, but they will have their moment. They will have this much. England, September 1934 Two young lovers, Catherine and Daniel, have trespassed into the rose garden of Burnt Norton, an abandoned house in the English countryside. Hearing the sound...

• View more books by Steven Carroll »

	Death of Kings By Bernard Cornwell Alfred, the great king, is said to be dying. Rivals for his succession are poised to tear the kingdom apart. The country Alfred has worked thirty years to build is about to disintegrate. Uhtred, the King′s warrior, Viking-born but Saxon-bred, wants more than...
	A Perfectly Good Man By Patrick Gale The apparent serenity of parish life in Pendeen and Morvah is disturbed when 20-year-old Lenny Barnes takes his own life in the presence of Father Barnaby Thomas, the charismatic, indefatigable local priest, whose enduring service has made him a popular member of his Cornish...
	Driving Jarvis Ham By Jim Bob Meet Jarvis Ham: tea-room assistant, diarist, lift-cadger, Princess Di fan, secret alcoholic, and relentless seeker of fame. Jarvis may be an all-round irritant, but he′s harmless, and deep down, you know, he′s got a heart of gold....
View more new releases »