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'Melbourne author Oriel Gray has used the skills she developed as a playwright and radio and television writer to good effect in her first novel, The Animal Shop (Penguin, 235pp., S)2.99). It is a heart-warming story full of incident and lively characters and a good deal of humour. The eponymous animal shop is actually an opportunity shop established to raise money to help abandoned animals. Most of those concerned are West Heidelberg battlers, some helping in the shop, others regular customers looking for bargains. The main characters, Pat and Louise. come from different backgrounds. but they have in common broken manages and compassion for others. Among their concerns are Mrs Collins, who is regularly bashed up by her psychotic son; Man-n. mother of three by different fathers and about to have a fourth; Cherry. a deserted wife whose handsome blue-eyed son manages to pull the wool over most people's eyes, and Dorothy Halstrom, faced with the agonising prospect of having to sell her once stately home. In many ways this is an old-fashioned book, with Just enough over-dramatisation of life to maintain interest without ever degenerating into a soapie. ' (Stan Barkley review : The Canberra Times 17 June 1990, 18)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Opportunity Knocks in Suburbia
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 14-15 July 1990; (p. rev 6)
— Review of The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel ; Uneasy Truces 1990 anthology short story -
The Latest in Paperbacks
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 7 July 1990; (p. 6)
— Review of The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel -
Kindly Look at Melbourne Battlers
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 June 1990; (p. 18)
— Review of The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel ; Two Brothers, Running : Seventeen Stories and a Movie 1990 selected work short story -
The Difficulty of Class Consciousness
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 120 1990; (p. 10)
— Review of The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel -
Literature Imitates the Art of Television
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 26 May 1990; (p. 78)
— Review of Play with Knives 1990 single work novel ; The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel
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Women's Lore: a Practical Feminism
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , December vol. 50 no. 4 1990; (p. 535-538)
— Review of A Writing Life : Interviews with Australian Women Writers 1990 selected work interview biography ; The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel ; Marriages 1990 selected work short story -
Soap `Washes' Unevenly
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 19 June vol. 112 no. 5723 1990; (p. 144)
— Review of Taking Shelter 1989 single work novel ; The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel -
Brother Jack of all Traits
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Herald , 17 June 1990; (p. 32)
— Review of Building on Sand 1988 single work novel ; The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel -
Literature Imitates the Art of Television
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 26 May 1990; (p. 78)
— Review of Play with Knives 1990 single work novel ; The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel -
The Difficulty of Class Consciousness
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 120 1990; (p. 10)
— Review of The Animal Shop 1990 single work novel
- Melbourne, Victoria,