AustLit logo

AustLit

image of person or book cover 5541797584438186023.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Bypass : The Story of a Road single work   prose   travel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 Bypass : The Story of a Road
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

'Forty and flabby, Michael McGirr hits the Hume Highway on a cheap bicycle. Having stopped working as a Jesuit priest, he is on a quest to find heaven knows what. Along the way, he is joined by Jenny.

'Bypass is the story of Australia’s main street, the much-unloved highway between Sydney and Melbourne. The Hume has plenty of tales to tell—of bushrangers and bus drivers, publicans and poets, runners and refugees—and McGirr discovers he has one to add to the swag. The road is a source of wisdom and comedy, and maybe even a fine romance.

'One of the most popular books by the author of Things You Get For Free and Books that Saved My Life, Bypass is both a personal memoir and an unconventional biography of the road most travelled. This edition includes ‘Passing By’, a new afterword bringing the story up to date.'  (Publication summary: 2022)

Notes

  • Dedication: For Jenny
  • Epigraph: Give a man a road and he has a library. Mary Gilmore, Hound of the Road.
  • Epigraph: Sancho answered, 'There's no road so smooth that it ain't got a few potholes.' Cervante, Don Quixote.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Picador , 2004 .
      image of person or book cover 5541797584438186023.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 313p.
      ISBN: 0330364936
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2022 .
      image of person or book cover 8593477074407911257.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 336p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 5 January 2022
      ISBN: 9781922330888
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

Tomb Town Michael McGirr , 2004 extract prose travel (Bypass : The Story of a Road)
— Appears in: The Age , 28 December 2004; (p. 4-5)
Tall Tales and True About a Township Bypassed by Progress Michael McGirr , 2004 extract prose (Bypass : The Story of a Road)
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 28 August 2004; (p. 4-5)
The Bright Side of the Road Michael McGirr , 2004 extract prose travel (Bypass : The Story of a Road)
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 21 August 2004; (p. 51-52, 54, 57)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (3)

Works about this Work

Prose Comes before a Fall Michael McGirr , 2012 single work prose
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 17 November 2012; (p. 24-25)
Plain Mister Jamie Grant , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 49 no. 4 2005; (p. 85-86)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
Nonfiction Stephen Alomes , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Island , Summer no. 99 2004; (p. 55-57)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
The Road Most Travelled Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30-31 October 2004; (p. 3)
Dragons and Good Men Richard Johnstone , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 265 2004; (p. 22)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
On the Road Peter Temple , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 14 August 2004; (p. 4)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
On the Road Again Jason Gregory , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 August 2004; (p. 8)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
On Life's Highway Hume is Where the Heart Is Robert Hefner , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 28 August 2004; (p. 2a)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
Road Much Travelled John Honner , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , September vol. 14 no. 7 2004; (p. 42)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
Bookshelf Tony Baker , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 18 September 2004; (p. 11)
— Review of Bypass : The Story of a Road Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
The Road Most Travelled Michael McGirr , 2004 single work prose
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30-31 October 2004; (p. 3)
Prose Comes before a Fall Michael McGirr , 2012 single work prose
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 17 November 2012; (p. 24-25)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (11)

Awards

VIEW ALL AWARDS (1)
Last amended 11 Mar 2022 07:07:20
Subjects:
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
Settings:
  • Hume Highway, New South Wales,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X