Rifling Paradise
Jem Poster. Overlook, $25.95 (325pp) ISBN 978-1-59020-048-3
Destitution and scandal drive 19th-century British gentleman Charles Redbourne on a voyage to Australia in Poster's atmospheric second novel. Charles hopes to collect specimens of rare wildlife, but his trip soon goes literally and figuratively offtrack. His stay with a family friend is unsettled by his host's daughter, a volatile artist with a troubled past. Bullen, his expedition manager, clashes violently with their porter, Billy Preece, deriding the servant's guidance, even though Billy's Aboriginal heritage provides their only authentic connection to the untamed land they traverse. As the journey devolves toward danger and even death, Poster (
Reviewed on: 02/23/2009
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 336 pages - 978-0-7531-7710-5
Hardcover - 325 pages - 978-0-340-82294-4
Open Ebook - 352 pages - 978-1-4683-0609-5
Paperback - 336 pages - 978-0-7531-7711-2