AustLit

'Friendship is like a train journey.

'There are happy moments, boring moments and exciting moments.

'There is anger and loneliness, and there is forgiveness, and the thread of friendship runs through everything, like rail tracks through the countryside.' (Publication summary)

'Perfect captures the simplicity, spontaneity and freedom of an idyllic childhood, while Freya Blackwood's paintings of the three children roaming a rolling beach side idyll capture the light - and even the smell and feel - of a perfect summer day.' (Publication summary)

'The Vintage and the Gleaning is set in a winemaking town in the north-east of Victoria, close to the Murray River. Smithy is a retired shearer turned vineyard worker who has recently been forced to give up drinking after a lifetime of alcoholism. In his new sobriety he is contemplating the world in which he lives and the man he has been and become with a new understanding. Assaulted by long forgotten memories, Smithy is forced to take stock of his own past.

'Overwhelmed with feelings of regret, guilt, loss and nostalgia for the past, Smithy is trapped in a blind search for meaning as he realises that he cannot undo the repercussions of his wasted life. He is a desperate and lonely old man seeking beauty in an ugly world.

'Living in the same town is Charlotte, a young woman in a dangerous relationship, whose misfortunes have led her into an uneasy friendship with Smithy. It is in his confused and ultimately futile attempts to help Charlotte that he seeks redemption.' (From the publisher's website.)