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'Meet Mark Heron ... twenty-something, burned out and recently washed up at the West End house they call Heartbreak Lodge. Meet his new neighbours ... Steve, who won a local art prize and hasn't been able to finish a painting since; Agenes who looks like Malibu Barbie but dresses like a 40s schoolmarm; Dave, optimist, idealist, connoisseur of 'Star Wars' memorabilia and hard core porn; Sarah, compassionate mystic with a checkered past; Speedy a try-sexual Vietnam vet; Trix, rave chick diva and professional nutcracker; Errol ex-Olympic fencer, sliding into old age and dementia. Mark's life becomes interwoven with his fellow tenants, their stories overlaying to form pieces of a whole,. As events unfold that threaten to turn their world upside down, Mark finds he must either go under ... or learn to knit water. This novel deals with urban loneliness. It does not shy away from the difficult questions, the philosophies of life, or from its secrets. It is intelligent, insightful and above all movingly honest. The judges were impressed by Craig Bolland's deft characterisations, his perceptiveness and the gentle humour with which he reveals aspects of the human condition.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Epigraph: 'In Ersilia, to establish the relationships that sustain the city's life, the inhabitants stretch strings from the corners of the houses, white or black or grey or black-and-white according to whether they mark a relationship of blood, of trade, authority, agency. When the strings become so numerous that you can no longer pass among them, the inhabitants leave: the houses are dismantled; only the strings and their supports remain.' - Italo Calvino Invisible Cities
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Future of Australian Fiction
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 176 2004; (p. 94-96)
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel ; A Secret Burial 2003 single work novel ; Ninety East Ridge 2002 single work novel ; My Sister Jill 2002 single work novel -
Untitled
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , no. 77 2003; (p. 172-173)
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel -
Untitled
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: JAS Review of Books , March no. 13 2003;
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel -
Books
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 17 November 2002; (p. 9)
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel -
Novel Approaches
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Courier Mail , 21 November 2001; (p. 39)
-
Untitled
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: JAS Review of Books , March no. 13 2003;
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel -
Untitled
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , no. 77 2003; (p. 172-173)
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel -
The Future of Australian Fiction
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 176 2004; (p. 94-96)
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel ; A Secret Burial 2003 single work novel ; Ninety East Ridge 2002 single work novel ; My Sister Jill 2002 single work novel -
Books
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 17 November 2002; (p. 9)
— Review of I Knit Water 2002 single work novel -
Novel Approaches
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Courier Mail , 21 November 2001; (p. 39)
Awards
- 2003 shortlisted One Book One Brisbane
- 2001 runner up Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Best Manuscript of an Emerging Queensland Author As Heartbreak Lodge
- West End, South Brisbane - East Brisbane area, Brisbane - South & South West, Brisbane, Queensland,