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Article: Gillian Mears, A Map of the Gardens.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Journal of Australian Studies
- Article date:
- September 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 University of Queensland Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Picador, 2002, pp 258, pb $21.00. ISBN 0330363468.
Many of the stories in this collection have the capacity to break the reader's heart. Even the ones I feel are less successful, like `Le Moustiquaire', contain magic: a cobweb with `a heart-shape on a string, as if the spider has been flying a festive kite in the night' (p 61) and a book hatching, when new wasps emerge from the nest made on the edges of the pages.
`Bird O Circle' tells the story of Beth looking after her godmother Rona's apartment for eight weeks or so in Paris, and the lost way she drinks through all the alcohol she finds there. Beth goes to the Sunday bird markets with an elaborate ...