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'After a year apart, Maryanne returns to her husband, Roy, bringing their eight-year-old son Daniel and his teenage sister Freya with her. The family move from Sydney to Newcastle, where Roy has bought a derelict house on the coast. As Roy painstakingly patches the holes in the floorboards and plasters over cracks in the walls, Maryanne believes, for a while, that they can rebuild a life together. But Freya doesn't want a fresh start - she just wants out - and Daniel drifts around the sprawling, run-down house in a dream, infuriating his father, who soon forgets the promises he has made. Some cracks can never be smoothed over, and tension grows between Roy and Maryanne until their uneasy peace is ruptured - with devastating consequences.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also large print.
- Sound recording.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
-
The Dangerous Ambiguity of Being on Foot : Reflections on the Act of Walking and Negotiating the Tension between Pedestrian and Car in the Process of Writing a Novel
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Text : Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 26 no. 1 2022; 'This article situates the writing of a novel and its relationship to place within a practice-
led vantage point that draws on concepts of writing about the city, ranging from the
figure of the flâneur to the field of psychogeography. I explore how the physical act of
moving through a city on foot and my close reading of two short stories – which both
leverage the contrast between pedestrian and vehicle – helped me to approach and
define the city in which my novel is set and, through this, offered specific opportunities
and imaginative possibilities for the narrative rendering of place. I also unpack the
potentiality of the car, particularly the way it shapes an unequal power dynamic in
which the pedestrian may be observed, interpreted and threatened by someone who can
remain protected within the enclosure of a vehicle.'(Publication abstract)
-
Of Michael Sala, The Restorer
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 77 no. 3 2018;
— Review of The Restorer 2017 single work novel'Michael Sala’s The Restorer weaves together the experiences of a family attempting to restore its balance following a year of separation from Roy: the husband, father, and threatening patriarch of the household. The novel is full of doublings – layers of attempted restorations and new beginnings, patterns of relationships and the potential for repeated violence and tremors.' (Introduction)
-
form
y
The Book Club [December 2017]
Sydney
:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
,
2017
15262028
2017
film/TV
For the final episode of The Book Club, host Jennifer Byrne joins regular panelists Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger, and guests Michael Williams and Benjamin Law. The panellists discuss "Five of the Best" from 2017, and best books as voted by readers. They are joined by Jimmy Barnes for a musical performance.
-
Tension Builds as a Family Crumbles
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25 February 2017; (p. 16) 'In the opening of Michael Sala’s second novel, a family arrives in Newcastle, NSW, in 1989 to restore a dilapidated inner-city terrace. But it is not only the restoration of the house that is at stake in this remarkable novel. The family itself is built on unstable foundations.' (Introduction) -
'The Restorer' by Michael Sala
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 390 2017; 'Domestic violence is an everyday reality for tens of thousands of women in Australia. Recent horrors and public campaigns have raised awareness of this social scourge. Journalists have written extensively on the subject, yet it is novelists, as Michael Sala shows in The Restorer, that can give us a more acute view of the emotional complexities that bind couples and keep women in threatening domestic situations.' (Introduction)
-
Of Michael Sala, The Restorer
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 77 no. 3 2018;
— Review of The Restorer 2017 single work novel'Michael Sala’s The Restorer weaves together the experiences of a family attempting to restore its balance following a year of separation from Roy: the husband, father, and threatening patriarch of the household. The novel is full of doublings – layers of attempted restorations and new beginnings, patterns of relationships and the potential for repeated violence and tremors.' (Introduction)
-
[Review Essay] The Restorer
2017
single work
essay
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 25 February 2017; 'The beginning of Michael Sala’s The Restorer is somewhat of a slow burn. It’s 1989 and a family – father Roy, mother Maryanne, teenage daughter Freya, and eight-year-old Daniel – move in to a rundown house in Newcastle, New South Wales, to renovate and start afresh. It’s clear, though, that something’s not quite right. The next-door neighbour’s offer of help is rudely rebuffed by Roy, the kids are guarded and Maryanne is strangely distant. We know already that things will go badly wrong.' (Introduction) -
Swaying Ground
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2017; 'Michael Sala’s second novel, The Restorer, approaches the experience of domestic violence from the perspective of two characters who endure and witness it. It can safely be called a topical novel, given the public interest in the issue over the last few years (see for instance the coverage here and here). The Restorer also revisits several of the themes that Sala explored in his superb fictional-autobiography, The Last Thread (2012). There, Sala portrays his relationships with two nasty paternal figures: Michaelis’ stepfather, Dirk, is often violent and threatens to kill him, while his biological father is sexually abusive and neglectful. Alongside this, Michaelis endures the precocious macho ferocity of his older brother, Con, and is witness to his mother’s relationship with yet another domineering man later in life.' (Introduction) -
'The Restorer' by Michael Sala
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 390 2017; 'Domestic violence is an everyday reality for tens of thousands of women in Australia. Recent horrors and public campaigns have raised awareness of this social scourge. Journalists have written extensively on the subject, yet it is novelists, as Michael Sala shows in The Restorer, that can give us a more acute view of the emotional complexities that bind couples and keep women in threatening domestic situations.' (Introduction) -
Tension Builds as a Family Crumbles
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25 February 2017; (p. 16) 'In the opening of Michael Sala’s second novel, a family arrives in Newcastle, NSW, in 1989 to restore a dilapidated inner-city terrace. But it is not only the restoration of the house that is at stake in this remarkable novel. The family itself is built on unstable foundations.' (Introduction) -
form
y
The Book Club [December 2017]
Sydney
:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
,
2017
15262028
2017
film/TV
For the final episode of The Book Club, host Jennifer Byrne joins regular panelists Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger, and guests Michael Williams and Benjamin Law. The panellists discuss "Five of the Best" from 2017, and best books as voted by readers. They are joined by Jimmy Barnes for a musical performance.
Awards
- 2018 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Fiction
- 2018 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 2018 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- 2018 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
