Vortex

we only need to tease out the first stray thread, such as the lingering wake left by a white ship forging through grey light to where a thousand seabirds disappear from the collapsing sky . . . and we've begunIt is 1954, but not the same way the history books would have it. Events and characters swirl in a vortex of fragments and chance connections.Brisbane celebrates the young Queen Elizabeth II's arrival on her first royal tour of the commonwealth. Meanwhile the future is being shaped behind closed doors, laying the foundations for the 21st century . . .A magisterial novel resonant with contemporary concerns, by one of Australia's foremost authors writing at the height of his ambition.Praise for Vortex'Everything about Rodney Hall's work is major: the beauty of the writing, the dark and vibrant imagination, and the enormous pleasure it gives the reader. Michael Herr'Rodney Hall writes the world as if it were lit by stormlight, a genius that recognises each facet for its singularity as well as its inherent interconnectedness.' Josephine Rowe'Vortex is many mighty things. Above all, it is generous.' Beejay Silcox

Rodney Hall came to Australia in 1949 as a migrant child. He left school in Brisbane on his sixteenth birthday and worked at various base grade retail and clerical jobs. He returned to the UK and Europe in 1958 with a view to staying permanently. During what turned out to be a 9,000 kilometre walk around Europe, west and east, which took three years, he wrote two novels (one of which was lost), came to terms with himself-as he puts it-and committed to his ambition to live as a writer. On returning to Brisbane in 1961 he secured regular work with ABC radio as scriptwriter for schools education programs, supplementing his income by playing and teaching early music. Since then he has won two Miles Franklin Awards, his novels have been widely published and translated into many languages, and he has been twice presented with the gold medal of the Australian Literature Society.

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