Buying Options

Kindle Price:	$14.27
	includes tax, if applicable

Redeem a promotion code or gift card

Share <Embed>

The Promise Kindle Edition

by Tony Birch (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

5 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$14.27

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$16.64

—

Outstanding new fiction from the Miles Franklin-shortlisted author of Blood In this breathtaking new work, Tony Birch affirms his position as one of Australia’s finest writers of short-form fiction. Using his unflinching creative gaze, he ponders love and loss and faith. A trio of amateur thieves are left in charge of a baby moments before a heist. A group of boys compete in the final of a marbles tournament, only to find their biggest challenge was the opponent they didn’t see coming. Two young friends find a submerged car in their local swimming hole and become obsessed by the mystery of the driver’s identity. Across twelve blistering stories, The Promise delivers a sensitive and often humorous take on the lives of those who have loved, lost and wandered.

Length: 151 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Language: English

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Tony Birch
23
Kindle Edition
$7.59
Tony Birch
25
Kindle Edition
$15.09
Tony Birch
16
Kindle Edition
$13.29
Tony Birch
6
Kindle Edition
$13.21
Tony Birch
189
Kindle Edition
$8.41
Anita Heiss
70
Kindle Edition
in Australian & Oceanian Literature
$12.34

Product description

Book Description

Across twelve blistering stories, The Promise delivers a sensitive and often humorous take on the lives of those who have loved, lost and wandered. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Tony Birch is the author of Shadowboxing (2006), the short story collection Father's Day (2009) and the novel Blood (UQP, 2011), which was shortlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award. He is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio and a regular guest at writers' festivals. He lives in Melbourne where he teaches in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN : B00JD01M3W
Publisher : University of Queensland Press (1 May 2014)
Language : English
File size : 1464 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 151 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 271,209 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 4,381 in Short Stories (Kindle Store)
- 5,022 in Short Stories (Books)
- 5,897 in Literary Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
5 ratings

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Customer reviews

5 star		50%
4 star		50%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Victor Bizzotto

Great stories beautifully told. Honest, touching and fun

Reviewed in Australia on 25 November 2017

Verified Purchase

A great read by a wonderful Aussie writer. Lots of interesting and varied stories with memorable characters and events. Any one of these remarkable and delightful stories would make a great little movie.

Helpful

Michael Stevens

Easy to read. Funny.

Reviewed in Australia on 20 July 2017

Verified Purchase

Well written short story that hooks you in from the first page. Could easily be an episode of "One foot in the grave" Tv series. Very enjoyable read.

Helpful

Set me free, why don't you babe?

Reviewed in Australia on 2 June 2016

The Promise is another collection of excellent short stories from one of Australia’s best exponents of the art.

Tony Birch is an Aboriginal writer who grew up in some of Melbourne’s more unlovely suburbs, some of which have subsequently become gentrified. The stories tend to be set with a backdrop of poverty and racial tensions, there is alcoholism and violence. But the stories are seldom, if ever, about these themes. Instead, they are stories of life, hope and exploration where the poverty and social marginalisation are as incidental as the weather or the colour of the wallpaper. These stories have some parallels with the modern day, but also serve as a museum display of places and practices that have long gone.

Many of Birch’s stories are set in his childhood – particularly 1960s Collingwood. But some of the most powerful stories are those set in contemporary times, and the title story, The Promise, is a particularly strong story about drink and the ephemerality of life.

If there is a theme (and how people yearn to find themes in collections of stories) it is the idea of being trapped and finding a release. These may not always be the releases that lead to everyone living happily ever afterwards but there is always some sense that the protagonists have done something conscious in an effort to change their circumstances.

The stories all share an accessibility; Birch is narrating, not preaching. He doesn’t hide behind flowery language or obscure metaphor. There is humour, there is beauty, some phrases almost sing off the page with their concise accuracy.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

MisterHobgoblin

Set me free why don't you babe?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 April 2016

Verified Purchase

pmw

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on 18 February 2016

Verified Purchase

great

See all reviews