Eucalyptus

First UK edition. Small 8vo. Pp. [vi], 264. Red paper boards, titled in red on cream label to spine.

Author's third novel. Winner of the 1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the 1999 Miles Franklin Literary Award, and the 1998 ALS Gold Medal. A 1998 New York Times Notable Book.

A Scheherazade-like modern fairy tale set in rural New South Wales, where a farmer invites suitors for his daughter's hand in marriage who can name each eucalyptus tree he has planted on his property. A film adaptation set to star Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, has been indefinitely mothballed, after rumoured disputes between Crowe and director Jocelyn Moorhouse. "It's a masterpiece." –Michael Hulse, The Spectator