''The Turning'' is a collection of short stories 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 ...

published in 2004.

Many of the 17 short stories included interweave in their respective narratives. The story is set in a small

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

town and is about all different kinds of "turnings", be they in people, situations, surprises, accidents, relationships, and even the turning of

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

. These turnings come at crucial times in the characters' lives. They are doomed and unhappy people, and though the turning may not change their lives we see their humanity even if just for a moment. This multi award-winning collection of short stories is used commonly in the curriculum of 3/AB English students in Western Australia. The stories are: # "Big World" # "Abbreviation" # "Aquifer" # "Damaged Goods" # "Small Mercies" # "On Her Knees" # "Cockleshell" # "The Turning" # "Sand" # "Family" # "Long, Clear View" # "Reunion" # "Commission" # "Fog" # "Boner McPharlin's Moll" # "Immunity" # "Defender"

Reviews

One review summarised ''The Turning'' as, "People struggle against the weight of their own history and try to reconcile themselves to their place in the world. With extraordinary insight and tenderness, Winton explores the demons and frailties of ordinary people whose lives are not what they had hoped." Though ''The Turning'' may be difficult to read we are emotionally captured by "these stunted, unhappy, and sometimes doomed lives, but Winton’s prose is transcendent." The stories show us that when life is at its lowest there is always, "some element of beauty." The Boston Globe wrote, "The writing is frankly brilliant . . . Winton shows us how startling ordinary life is. And he does it in a way that's more amazing than if he had shown a ghost shimmering on the page." The Times wrote, "'Winton is a poet of baffled souls . . . To read him is to be reminded not just of the possibilities of fiction but of the human heart. "

Adaptations

Play

''The Turning'' was developed as a play for the 2008 Perth International Arts Festival. The Western Edge Theatre Projects worked together with the

Perth Theatre Company Perth Theatre Company was a live theatre company in Perth, Western Australia. History Perth Theatre Company was founded as SWY Theatre Company by graduates from the specialist Theatre Arts course at John Curtin Senior High School in 1983. Betwe ...

and Bill McCluskey on the production.

Film

In 2013, ''The Turning'' was premiered as a film at the

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

. The architect of the project was

Robert Connolly Robert Connolly (born 1967) is an Australian film director, producer and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. He is best known as the director and writer of the feature films ''Balibo (film), Balibo'', ''Three Dollars' ...

, and the result was that the 18 stories in the collection were each filmed featuring different actors, directors and collaborators.

Awards and nominations

* 2004

Colin Roderick Award The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presented ...

, 2004 – joint winner * 2005

Queensland Premier's Literary Awards The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...

, Best Fiction Book * 2005 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction * 2005 Inaugural

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award __NOTOC__ The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented bet ...

– shortlisted * 2005

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book – commended,

References