Shallows

Tim Winton brings the landscape to life in Shallows, a historical fiction novel about pride and loneliness. One hundred and fifty years after the establishment of land-based whaling in Australia, its last outpost is Angelus, a small town already struggling for survival. Long-dormant passions are awakened by the arrival of the conservationists, who threaten the towns livelihood and disturb the fragile peace under which its inhabitants live. A moving and powerful elegy . . . Winton writes vividly, and with courage, about serious matters in a cynical world. Observer