AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 8901000964781578392.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon The Deepest Part of the Lake single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2001... 2001 The Deepest Part of the Lake
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'It's 1952, and in a small Victorian town a drama is about to unfold that will end in tragedy. Four boys begin a long swim across the lake to the island mountains. To David Shaw, the boy whose visions dominate the group, the islands are paradise. But it is in David's imagination that the seeds of tragedy lie buried.

'Around this central drama, Robert Hillman weaves the story of a community in which the Australia that is about to happen lives in embryo. For the huge lake itself is the work of a giant American construction company, and the town of The Weir is more than host to the hundreds of Americans who live there—it is the willing captive of the culture that the Yanks have brought with them.

'A vivid cast of characters people this spellbinding new novel—the ageing communist, Shabby Saunders, whose humanity embraces both the weak and the strong; Jilly, the town beauty and feminist manqu, straining to see over the walls of her life; James and Oliver, giddy socialists heading off to university charged with a mission to remake the nation; Bernie Marr, the brutal war-hero and roistering drunkard; and Dulcie Finnegan, the indomitable matriarch of one of the town's poorest families. Finally, there is the town itself, nestled in its green valley, seething with the life that the Yanks and immigrants from a dozen lands have brought to it.

'This is a novel that throws a searching light on the best and the worst of the Australia that was. It shows, in the tragedy of one small boy, the little hells that dwell in paradise.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Notes

  • Dedication: ...and the penance of life falls on him. - Coleridge, annotation The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Carlton North, Parkville - Carlton area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Scribe , 2001 .
      image of person or book cover 8901000964781578392.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 266p.
      ISBN: 0908011628

Works about this Work

The Question of Identity Laurie Clancy , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 169 2002; (p. 139-142)

— Review of The Fig Tree Arnold Zable , 2002 selected work autobiography prose extract ; A Map of Gardens Gillian Mears , 2001 single work short story ; The Slow Death of Patrick O'Reilly Phil Leask , 2001 single work novel ; The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel
Two New Novels Katharine England , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 234 2001; (p. 58-59)

— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel ; Earth Bruce Pascoe , 2001 single work novel
Paperbacks Ian McFarlane , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 14 October 2001; (p. 53)

— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel ; A Cafe in Venice Dorian Mode , 2001 single work novel ; Yesterday's Dust Joy Dettman , 2001 single work novel
Snaps of the Way We Were David Matthews , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 October 2001; (p. 13, 14)

— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel ; The Girls Bruno Bouchet , 2001 single work novel
Snaps of the Way We Were David Matthews , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 October 2001; (p. 13, 14)

— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel ; The Girls Bruno Bouchet , 2001 single work novel
Paperbacks Ian McFarlane , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 14 October 2001; (p. 53)

— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel ; A Cafe in Venice Dorian Mode , 2001 single work novel ; Yesterday's Dust Joy Dettman , 2001 single work novel
Two New Novels Katharine England , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 234 2001; (p. 58-59)

— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel ; Earth Bruce Pascoe , 2001 single work novel
The Question of Identity Laurie Clancy , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 169 2002; (p. 139-142)

— Review of The Fig Tree Arnold Zable , 2002 selected work autobiography prose extract ; A Map of Gardens Gillian Mears , 2001 single work short story ; The Slow Death of Patrick O'Reilly Phil Leask , 2001 single work novel ; The Deepest Part of the Lake Robert Hillman , 2001 single work novel
Last amended 12 May 2020 09:23:59
Settings:
  • Alexandra - Eildon area, Yea - Eildon - Warburton area, Melbourne Outer North, Melbourne, Victoria,
  • 1952
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X