The Island of Four Rivers
Christopher Morgan
‘A gentle delight — funny, oddly affecting, and infinitely hopeful.’
Delia Falconer‘Life gets easier once you accept that all comedy is black. Christopher Morgan has taken just one novel to reach this stage of enlightenment. He has diabolical fun with the Davis family ... Morgan’s prose knows just when to arch an eyebrow. Afterwards you may wonder why you laughed so much. But the fact is you did.’
Michael McGirr (Sydney Morning Herald)‘Delightful and different, The Island of Four Rivers beckons the reader to fill their mind with both modern mundane life and beautiful fantasy ... [It] is an intimate and moving parable of life and the eternal power of love ... an enthralling novel from a talented new writer.’
Stephen Davenport (The Program)The turn of a ripening summer, and I have found myself with that most sought-after and most dreaded of things: spare time.
The Davis family, a disparate group of people with nothing in common but their mutual dislike, have been brought together by a crisis. Bill Davis, the family patriarch, is desperately ill in hospital, felled by a stroke, and kept alive only by medical technology.
His family his embittered and passive wife Dot, his pedantic son Henry, and long-estranged daughter Eleanor must decide together when to end his life. Meanwhile, another narrative emerges and asserts itself: intrepid explorer Crabby Davis ranges like a true swashbuckling Victorian gentleman through the wilds of the South Pacific, keeping a vivid diary as he goes.
As the latter-day plight of the dysfunctional Davis family becomes more comically revealing under the pressure of having to make life-and-death decisions, so does the voyage of Crabby Davis become increasingly fantastical. When Crabby embarks on a final incredible quest to the source of the four rivers on his island, the voyage of the larger-than-life explorer and Bill Davis’s final journey towards death dramatically intersect.
In this remarkable debut novel, author Christopher Morgan deftly weaves the multiple narratives in a beguiling blend of the magical and the mundane. Paradoxical, spellbinding, and funny, The Island of Four Rivers is about living and dying, and the transforming power of love.
‘Morgan lavishes the narrative with a creative and fantastical imagination ... A languid and delightful read.’
(Sunday Times)‘The Island of Four Rivers is an out-of-the-box, lyrical fantasy that beautifully suspends adult disbelief.’
Natasha Cica (Weekend Australian)‘The Island of Four Rivers is an elegantly woven tapestry of human emotions and exotic adventure, full of surprises and gradual revelations that will surely keep you entranced until the last page ... The whimsical tone and entertaining storyline belie the power and depth Melbourne author Christopher Morgan achieves in this his first novel. He plumbs the existential mysteries of living and dying, humorously portraying the disarming power of love.’
Reg Anderson (Courier Mail)'Together the entwined stories convey a homely and uplifting wisdom, and provide a gentle parable on the possibility of change that leaves the reader heartwarmed and smiling.'
Katharine England (The Advertiser Review)An 'eccentric and impressive debut.'
Peter Pierce (Canberra Times)'This is an entertaining novel, characterised by a light touch and laced with magical realism.'
David Christie (Newcastle Herald)Christopher Morgan
Christopher Morgan has been a musician, a gardener, an artificial-tree maker, and a baker. He lives in Melbourne with his partner and his cat. This is his first novel.
Buy from Readings
Extent: 288pp
Size: 234mm x 153mm
ISBN (10): 1920769 900
ISBN (13): 9781920769901
RRP: $30.00
Pub date: July 2006
Status: Out of print
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