The Torch
Page 42
To Anne Parry and Julie Mac for their readings of the book and helpful comments; to my sister Kate, for her comments and memories, all pure gold (and for the recipes on the website).
About the Author
Peter Twohig was born in Melbourne in 1948 and grew up in Richmond and Dandenong. He survived a Catholic education, and worked in the Australian Public Service until 1992. He then moved to Sydney to become a naturopath and homoeopath. He has degrees in philosophy and complementary medicine.
Peter’s first novel, The Cartographer, received the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction in 2012 and was long-listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2013.
petertwohig.com
Praise for Peter Twohig
‘hilariously on the money … a disarmingly poignant story … whose vivid descriptions, original, engaging voice and surprising hero-in-the rough draw the reader into a labyrinth of danger and discovery’
Sunday Age
‘a fresh and rollicking take on the Boys’ Own Adventure’
Weekend Australian
‘you’ll be struck by the charm of the writing, its easy wit and the rich descriptions … Twohig has a wonderful gift for characterisation’
Canberra Times
‘original and delightfully entertaining … a rollicking ride through a distinctly Australian urban landscape … with just the right measures of sentiment and plenty of thrills along the way … will leave you smiling with satisfaction’
Good Reading
‘like no other adventure … A rich cast of shady characters … plus a quirky plot make for an interesting read’
Launceston Examiner
‘strap yourself in for a ripper ride on and under the streets of Richmond, Melbourne’
Daily Telegraph
‘his charmingly honest voice had us hooked’
Grazia
Other Books by Peter Twohig
THE
CARTOGRAPHER
‘If … you enjoyed Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, you are going to want to read this book.’
Bookseller + Publisher
Melbourne, 1959. An eleven-year-old boy witnesses a murder as he spies through the window of a strange house. God, who he no longer counts as a friend, obviously has a pretty screwed-up sense of humour: just one year before, the boy had looked on helplessly as his twin brother, Tom, suffered a violent death.
Now, having been seen by the angry murderer, he’s a kid on the run. With only a charming but shady grandfather, a professional standover man and an incongruous local couple as adult mentors, he takes refuge in the dark drains and grimy tunnels beneath the city, transforming himself into a series of superheroes and creating a rather unreliable map to plot out places where he is unlikely to cross paths with the bogeyman.
A bold, captivating and outrageously funny novel about a boy who refuses to give in, and the numerous shifty, dodgy and downright malicious bastards he has to contend with on his grand adventure of loss and discovery, The Cartographer is an astounding, fresh and unforgettably poignant novel you’d be a mug to miss!
Copyright
Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2015
This edition published in 2015
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Peter Twohig 2015
The right of Peter Twohig to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Twohig, Peter, author.
The torch / Peter Twohig.
ISBN 978 0 7322 9901 9 (pbk)
ISBN 978 1 4607 0265 9 (epub)
Arson — Fiction.
Melbourne (Vic.) — Fiction.
A823.4
Cover design by HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover illustration by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio