AustLit

'At the age of twenty-four, Dimity Ware received a kidney transplant. Her doctors told her she could never have children and would probably die in her thirties. In response, she announced her lesbianism, left her husband, and gave birth to a son.

'Ianto Ware revisits his childhood in suburban Adelaide, where his mother — single parent, lesbian feminist, and ardent socialist — waged a four-decade war on her conservative neighbourhood, primarily through the medium of gardening.

'Blending the loving wisdom of Ray Gaita, the emotional honesty of Jeanette Winterson, and the humour of Gerald Durrell, this is part family memoir, part history of working class life, and part homage to suburban eccentricity.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When chronic insomniac and reluctant office worker Ianto Ware went looking for answers to life's big questions, he found them in the world's largest bike race. Twenty-One Nights in July is a joyride through the Tour's greatest moments — part love letter to cycling, part history of the Tour de France, and part philosophical treatise on the merits of the humble bicycle, Twenty-One Nights in July unravels La Grande Boucle's greatest stages, contests, personalities, scandals and controversies — from Fausto Coppi's victory on Alpe d'Huez, to Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor's epic battle on the Puy de Dôme, from René Vietto's shameless weeping to Greg LeMond soiling himself in his battle against Bernard Hinault.

'From the Italian whose win prevented a revolution, to the British champion whose dying words were 'put me back on my bike', and the convicted doper who declared 'I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles', Twenty-One Nights in July mines deep into the Tour's hidden secrets to reveal how cycling transcended mere sport to become a philosophy for the modern age.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.