''Trap'' (1966) is the first novel by Australian author Peter Mathers. It won the

Miles Franklin 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 ...

for 1966.

Story outline

The novel follows the life of Jack Trap, a man living on the outskirts of Melbourne in the 1960s. Trap is of mixed Irish, English and Aboriginal background, in his forties and fat. He joins with a small group of outsiders and travels to a mining lease on Cape York to form a co-operative community.

Critical reception

In ''The Canberra Times'' Maurice Dunlevy found that the attempted satire fell well short of its target: "''Trap'' is a first novel and reads like one. It attempts to be satirical, shocking and avant garde — succeeds only in being naive...His irony is too heavy, his targets are too obvious and he never cuts deeper than satirical revue.""Naive attempt at satire" by Maurice Dunlevy, ''The Canberra Times'', 18 June 1966, p10
/ref>

References

1966 Australian novels Miles Franklin Award-winning works Cassell (publisher) books 1966 debut novels {{1960s-novel-stub