''Eyrie'' (2013) is a novel by Australian author

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles ...

. It was shortlisted for the 2014

Miles Franklin Literary Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

Plot summary

Tom Keely is alone, living at the top of the Mirador apartments, a

highrise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. Once a high-powered,

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...

, he is now divorced and destitute. "Tim Winton's heart-stopping, exhilarating ''Eyrie'' asks how, in an impossibly compromised world, we can ever hope to do the right thing."

Reviews

Lyn McCredden in the ''Sydney Review of Books'' wrote about Wintons theme of families who "...can be sustaining, even redemptive. They work on intimate premises different to those of the political and social. They can be bulwarks against a hostile world and places of repetitive, formative violence and loss. ..can be units of resistance against personal dissolution, even in the face of utter loss and falls from grace, but they also carry the seeds of tragedy and hostility." Michael Williams in ''The Guardian'' considered it a "superb novel", a tale about people "trying to work out how to be good to one another" He writes that while some critics have written about the bleakness of ''Eyrie'' they could also write about "... the narrative is as propulsive as anything he has written before – or applaud the novel's caustic and frequently laugh-out-loud sense of humour."."Eyrie, by Tim Winton – book review" by Michael Williams, ''The Guardian'', 1 November 2013
/ref>

Awards and nominations

* 2014 winner

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

— People's Choice Award * 2014 shortlisted

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

— Fiction * 2014 shortlisted Indie Awards — Fiction * 2014 shortlisted

* 2014 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year * 2014 shortlisted

— Fiction * 2014 shortlisted

Voss Literary Prize The Voss Literary Prize is an annual award named in honour of historian Vivian Robert de Vaux Voss (1930–1963). It is awarded to the best novel published in the previous year and is managed and judged by the Australian University Heads of Engli ...

* 2014 shortlisted

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

— Fiction Book Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyrie 2013 Australian novels Hamish Hamilton books Novels by Tim Winton Novels set in Western Australia