Love and the Platypus (small-format edition)
Nicholas Drayson
Shortlisted for the ACT Book of the Year 2008
Which is the greater mystery: the breeding habits of the platypus or the workings of the human heart?
In 1883 young British naturalist William Caldwell arrives in Australia with a mission: to determine for the scientific record whether the platypus really does lay eggs. But first he must travel overland to the Burnett River in Queensland, where he intends to set up camp. On his journey he is hindered and assisted by a cast of characters, including a drunken bullocky and an inscrutable, poetical bushman. Once there, William starts his investigations and encounters the local Aboriginal people, enlisting their help and ultimately learning their tragic history. He also meets a young blind woman with many secrets of her own.
Love and the Platypus is a delightful, captivating novel that examines the obsessive nature of scientific enquiry and its environmental consequences, and the wonders of the natural world and of romantic love.
Nicholas Drayson
Nicholas Drayson is a novelist and naturalist. His first novel, Confessing a Murder, was critically acclaimed in the UK and US, and short-listed for The Age Book of the Year. His essay 'Strictly for the Birds' won the 2003 inaugural international WildCare Tasmania Nature Writing Prize.
Born and raised in England, he now lives in Australia, so instead of newts and sticklebacks in his pond, he now has frogs and galaxias. He is consultant to National Museum of Australia on platypus acquisitions.
Buy from Readings
Extent: 352pp
Size: 210mm x 135mm
ISBN (13): 9781921215995
RRP: $27.95
Pub date: February 2008
ANZ
ANZ audio (Louis Braille Audio)
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