Questions of Travel

Laura Fraser grows up in Sydney, motherless, with a cold, professional father and an artistic bent. Ravi Mendis lives on the other side of the world--exploring the seductive new world of the internet, his father dead, his mother struggling to get by. Their stories alternate throughout Michelle de Kretser's ravishing new novel, culminating in unlikely fates for them both, destinies influenced by travel--voluntary in her case, enforced in his.With money from an inheritance, Laura sets off to see the world, returning to Sydney to work for a publisher of a travel guides. There she meets Ravi, now a Sri Lankan political exile who wants only to see a bit of Australia and make a living. Where do these two disparate characters, and an enthralling array of others, truly belong? With her trademark subtlety, wit, and dazzling prose, Michelle de Kretser shows us that, in the 21st century, they belong wherever they want to and can be--home or away.ReviewPRAISE FOR THE HAMILTON CASE (2004)"Multi-layered and beguiling." (New York Times Book Review William Boyd)"De Kretser has pulled off something remarkable" (Salon Laura Miller)"An utterly captivating blend of intellectual muscle and story-telling magic." (The Independent (UK)* Boyd Tonkin*)"De Kretser's prose is stunning." (Time Lev Grossman)"Subtle and mysterious, both comic and eerie, and brilliantly evocative of time and place." (Hilary Mantel)PRAISE FOR THE LOST DOG (2008)"A gripping story. . .elegant and subtle. . . .This is the best novel I have read in a long time." (Financial Times (UK)* A.S. Byatt*)"Rich, beautiful, shocking, affecting." (Vogue Clare Press)"Uncannily compelling . . . .De Kretser's daring willingness to let suspense accrue without promising resolution is a worthy echo of Henry James's brilliance." (Washington Post Dara Horn)"More often than not, de Kretser nails some situation or foible in 20 words or less. . .There is much here that dazzles. . . .De Kretser's writing is as boldly beautiful as ever." (The New York Times Book Review Alison McCulloch) About the AuthorMichelle de Kretser is a Sri Lankan who has lived in Australia since 1972. She is also the author or the novels The Rose Grower, The Hamilton Case, and The Lost Dog.