About this ebook
In 1960 the West Indies arrive in Australia, bringing with them a carnival of music, colour and possibility. Michael, who is sixteen, is enthralled. If, like his heroes, he has the gift of speed, he will move beyond his suburb into the great world ... And yet, as his summer unfolds, Michael realises that there are other ways to live. When the calypso chorus accompanying Frank Worrell and his team fades, Michael has learnt many things; about his parents, his suburb, a girl called Kathleen Marsden, and about himself. THE GIFT OF SPEED is a masterful blend of story-telling, memorable characters and a uniquely Australian sensibility by a novelist at the height of his powers.
'A must-read' Bookseller+Publisher
'If, as they say, the past is another country, then Carroll is the ideal guide' Sydney Morning Herald
'Rarely has such an arid place as suburban Melbourne in the heat of 1961 evoked such graceful and tender prose' The Age
Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2005
About the author
Steven Carroll is the multi-award winning author of fifteen novels including A World of Other People (2013), which was the joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award, and The Time We Have Taken (2007), which was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the SE Asia and Pacific Region and the Miles Franklin Award in 2008. Forever Young (2015) was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award and the Prime Minister's Literary Award in 2016. A New England Affair (2017) was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award in 2018 and The Year of the Beast (2019) was longlisted for the 2020 Voss Literary Prize. His most recent novel, Goodnight, Vivienne, Goodnight was longlisted for the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize and for the 2023 Voss Literary Prize.Steven lives in Melbourne with his partner, the author Fiona Capp, and their son.