The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
She's been one for 30 years, won Pulitzer Prizes, et cetera.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
But she, at the end of the GFC, went to one small town.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
and followed their story for 10 years, embedded herself in the community there.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
They had a General Motors plant that closed down, 8,000, 9,000 jobs went.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
And it's the most riveting, touching, beautiful portrayal of a community in crisis and what happens and these lives you would never expect to care about, but it's very touching.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Well, time now on the bookshelf to turn to one of the big novels of the year, Michael Ondaatje's Warlight.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
It's just released this week.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Now, Stephen, it's because when we spoke to you earlier this year about some of the big books ahead of us that you were so looking forward to this novel and that we wanted to have you back.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
And also because you said at the time that you thought of him as a writer's writer.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
And I want to hear...
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
how you think of that now in the context of this book.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
But let's set the book up a bit for people because they won't have read it.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
It's called Warlight.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
It's set during the shadow of the Second World War.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
It's told from the perspective of a young boy, Nathaniel.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Oh, he's not that young, really, actually.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
But we meet him as a child.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
He's with his sister, Rachel, and his parents have disappeared.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
In fact, the first sentence of the book has to be one of the all-time greats.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
And, yes, it sort of lays itself out from there.