The Time of the Peacock: Revised Edition - Softcover

Abdullah, Mena; Mathew, Ray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1925706885 ISBN 13: 9781925706888

Publisher: ETT Imprint, 2019

Synopsis

These stories re-create a strange and fascinating world, where a child may look through squares of lattice enclosing a garden of Indian jasmine and Kasmiri roses to the sheepyards and paddocks of the Australian countryside. They are unique in their depiction of life of an Indian family in rural Australia, but they would be distinguished in any case by their quality - their crystalline images and lyrical feeling, their sensitive perception of light and shade, of human suffering, exile and joy.

Mena Abdullah and Ray Mathew have created a beautiful new world in Australia: the gay, touching and agonising life of an immigrant Indian family as seen by their younger daughter. - The Australian

Never has the other fellow's point of view been put forward with more gentle suavity than in this tale of Indian children growing up in rural Australia ... The style throughout has a simplicity and purity of language that is a delight to read. - The West Australian

...a jewel of a book. - Nancy Keesing

About this title

About the Author

Mena Abdullah (and Ray Mathew) were being honest to their delineation, and perhaps discovery, of authentic experience. The world of that Muslim-Hindu child speaks of exile and the self, of the confines of family and its great sustaining strengths. It offers subtle lessons in alternative social environments. It also teaches us that the best writing can be powerfully moving while at the same time confronting us with issues that, over time, increase in relevance. The Time of the Peacock is a book that has more to say to more people now than it had when, in the 1950s, the stories first appeared.” Tom Shapcott, from his Introduction.

Edition details

• Publisher: ETT Imprint
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1925706885
• ISBN 13: 9781925706888
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 104