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Holden's Performance

A Novel

Murray Bail

Picador

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ISBN10: 0312420803
ISBN13: 9780312420802

Trade Paperback

384 Pages

$27.00

CA$29.99

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Holden's Performance is the story of Holden Shadbolt, a guileless and matter-of-fact innocent as he passes through the cities and landscape of Australia. His reassuring silent presence and photographic memory make him useful to men of power and women who appear to need his protection. He is surrounded by larger than life figures whose exploits and adventures Holden follows—ex-Corporal Frank 'Bloodnut' McBee, the scrap dealer who woos his mother; his uncle Vern, a shortsighted proofreader who likes facts and eating newspaper with his breakfast cereal; and the crippled artist Harriet, whose twists and curves appeal to Holden as he holds to his own unswervingly straight lines.

Reviews

Praise for Holden's Performance

"A work of dazzling imagination."—Independent

"Holden's Performance is a triumph."—The Australian

"Bail is a writer of great talent and extraordinary concentration."—Melbourne Age

"Astonishing in its range . . . superbly written, much of it is like the click of a camera shutter in its sharpness and impassivity . . . extraordinarily wide-ranging and inventive."—The Times on Sunday

Reviews from Goodreads

BOOK EXCERPTS

Read an Excerpt

HOLDEN'S PERFORMANCE (Chapter One)
A lesson in geometry--the invasion of khaki--getting away with murder--a diet of grey matter--the view from the Hills--found objects--the usherette and the projectionist--the body development of Holden--McBee...

About the author

Murray Bail

Murray Bail's fiction, which includes Eucalyptus, Homesickness, The Drover's Wife and other Stories and Camouflage, has received many major awards, among them the Miles Franklin Award in Australia and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. He is also the author of the non-fiction works, Ian Fairweather and Longhand: A Writer's Notebook. He lives in Sydney.

Copyright Anthony Browell