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'With a nod of his head to Peter Carey's Jack Maggs, Richard King, winner of the 1995 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, writes with tongue-in-cheek to give us a boisterous novel of just one of the beginnings of white Australia.
'In the fine and funny tradition of absurdist writing, Carrion Colony is the exciting new novel from the winner of the 1995 Australian/Vogel Literary Award.
'Set in a broken-down penal colony, Old + New Bridgeford, in Australia in the early 19th century, Richard King writes an extraordinarily compelling, somewhat autobiographical and tongue-in-cheek view on just one of the beginnings of white Australia.
'There's mayhem, violence and generally very odd behaviour exhibited by the soldiers and the convicts dumped in what feels like the middle of nowhere.
'There's a doctor who's too preoccupied in razing the native flora to practise medicine, a madman stranded on a rocky outcrop engraving a tiny map of Great Britain in the stone, a cartographer whose pencils are blunt and the Spanish Girl, the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, with a mean knack for Red Ace.
'Every man and woman in this colony is being stretched beyond belief just to survive, but there's humour too in the surviving.
'Carrion Colony is a boisterous novel, full of verve, that interprets history with a wickedly satirical lens.' [publisher's summary]
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Untitled
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: JAS Review of Books , June no. 16 2003;
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel -
Colonial Capers Fall Flat
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 October 2002; (p. 15)
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel -
Colonial Romps
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 245 2002; (p. 49-50)
— Review of Mrs Cook : The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife 2002 single work novel ; Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel -
The Wild Colonial Ploy
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 22 September 2002; (p. 10)
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel -
Humble to the Crust
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 20 July 2002; (p. 7)
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel
-
Untitled
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: JAS Review of Books , June no. 16 2003;
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel -
Wretched Sons and Widows
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 24 August 2002; (p. 12)
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel ; Mrs Cook : The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife 2002 single work novel -
Home Brew
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 27 August vol. 120 no. 6339 2002; (p. 66)
— Review of Hindustan Contessa : A Novel 2002 single work novel ; Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel ; Of a Boy 2002 single work novel ; I'm a Believer 2002 single work novel ; Borrowed Eyes 2002 single work novel -
Humble to the Crust
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 20 July 2002; (p. 7)
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel -
The Wild Colonial Ploy
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 22 September 2002; (p. 10)
— Review of Carrion Colony 2002 single work novel