FUNNY NOVEL BUBBLING WITH AUSSIE HUMOUR
The Bournleys of Beetle Creek
You'll love 'em ... and you'll be so glad they're not your family!
THE YEAR IS 1950
Australian History just took a sharp left turn
Fred Bournley (Dad) - has a philosophical bent, steals the odd sheep to keep the family going, scrounges for choice items at the garbage tip, and regularly clashes with his two mortal enemies, local grazier Pat O'Brien (who accuses Fred of stealing his sheep) and Gordon Woods (who got Fred's fiancee pregnant when they were young bloods).
Lorna Bournley (Mum) - protects her brood of five fiercely, does a mean roast chook, judges the CWA scone-baking contest, dreams of winning the lottery and moving up in the world ... and handles herself pretty well in a street brawl, too.
Davo (aged 16) - the Beetle Creek Casanova, no stranger to hard yakka or sexual benevolence. Davo is ready to support the family if the old man should 'kick the bucket'. He is idolised by his two young brothers, with whom he shares a bedroom.
Marcie (aged 15) - discovers lust in the dust and never looks back. Marcie is housemaid to grazier's wife Mrs Sefton and, with tutoring, acquires a little class. She knows she is cut out for bigger things than Beetle Creek can offer. Proposals of marriage from the local police constable and the school teacher could tempt her to stay.
Lucy (aged 12) - is the weird one, a recluse who rarely speaks except to utter profundities. She enters a trance state one day and foretells the future of each member of the family - prophecies that eerily come true.
Denny (aged 7) - the evil genius of the family. Denny dreams of being the first boy to navigate the Murray-Darling river system on a raft (starting at the creek behind the house). He also traps birds, rabbits ... and the rats that live in the ceiling with a trap set on the bedroom window sill above his bed. Denny is entrepreneurial, and does a nice little sideline in blackmail.
Jack (aged 10) - is the wry narrator who records the family history years later. He is, of course, holy and above reproach. Jack introduces you to a host of wonderful Beetle Creek identities - old Uncle Tommy, Gordon Woods, Georgie Chung, Constable Williams, Cecil Dogwood the teacher, and Mrs Layton the next door neighbour. ...and of course, Uncle Wally, who has just got out of jail.
One of the funniest Aussie works in a long time.
The Australian bush as you've never seen it before.
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