Billarooby - Softcover

Anderson, Jim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0671680390 ISBN 13: 9780671680398

Publisher: Fireside

Synopsis

Lindsay Armstrong, born in England, looks back on his childhood growing up in Australia during World War II

About this title

About the Author:

Billarooby is the first novel of Sydney based writer and photo-artist, Jim Anderson, now being republished by Valentine Press. His second novel Chipman's African Adventure, was published by Valentine Press in 2015. Jim was the art editor of London's infamous OZ Magazine. He and the other two editors were briefly jailed in 1971 after a sensational 6-week trial at the Old Bailey for publishing obscene material. Some months later the High Court overturned the sentences and quashed the convictions, allowing the editors to continue publishing OZ. Another publication, LAMPOON an historical art trajectory 1976-2010, is a memoir and a collection of Jim's collages, cartoons and other artworks from this period and later.

From Publishers Weekly:

A journalist for 25 years in England and America, Anderson brings a masterful prose style to his first novel. The narrative is a remarkable evocation of the author's growing years in Australia during World War II. Lindsay Armstrong, aged 11, relates events generated by his parents, Jack and Lillian, who move the family from England to Billarooby, a remote community in the Outback. Although the reason for emigrating is never mentioned to the boy, Lindsay suspects it was an unspeakable act in his father's past. Jack is crude, a hard drinker, and Lindsay avoids him. He elects as a hero, instead, a Japanese soldier whom he glimpses during the prisoner's brief escape from a nearby camp. Empathy between the boy and the prisoners strengthens as he secretly visits the encampment and sees them brutally treated. Tensions in the community are exacerbated by a devastating drought and by incitements to riot when Jack and fellow racists make Billarooby a war zone. The climax crowns a novel about credible people, not one of them a minor character, as the author presents each with failings as well as qualities that augur hope for a better future. It is a story that will remain in the reader's memory.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fireside
• ISBN 10: 0671680390
• ISBN 13: 9780671680398
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 321