Fresh Fields

(Paperback)

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Description

From one of Australia's most talented writers comes a moving and compelling novel about the loss of innocence and living on the edge. Arriving in the city with little money, no job, an indifferent mother and brother, and nowhere to stay, a shy, awkward 14-year-old boy drifts from the city to the bush and back again, doing what work he can, slowly becoming more alienated and distrustful ... With gathering momentum, the narrative takes successively dangerous turns, propelling the reader toward its tragic conclusion. Fresh Fields can be read as the prequel to Peter Kocan's groundbreaking novellas the treatment and the Cure. Its insights into parental neglect, homelessness, mental illness and the trials of adolescence are all too real, but there is also genuine humanity, compassion, sensitivity and humour in the face of adversity, and these qualities leaven the harsh realities and make for an unforgettable literary experience.

Author Bio

Peter Kocan was born in Newcastle NSW in 1947. He left school at fourteen and worked on country properties and in factory jobs in the city. He served a decade in custody for a shooting offence and it was then that he began to write. He has published five collections of verse, and this is his fifth novel. His previous novel, FRESH FIELDS, won the 2004 FAW Christina Stead Award for Fiction, was short-listed for both the NSW and Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, and was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT. He has recently gained a doctorate in Creative Arts.