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At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event. The novel is told from the points of view of eight people (including a gay man) who were present at the barbecue. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families, the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires. What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting beliefs - that family can arouse. This is the latest book by the gay Australian author of important contemporary novels like Loaded , The Jesus Man and Dead Europe. Winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writer's Prize Best Book Award, and Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010, it has been adapted by the ABC as a TV series, starring Melissa George and Alex Dimitriades, and is available on dvd.
Paperback, 485 Pages, Orig. Publ. 2008, This Ed. Publ. 2010
Author: Christos Tsiolkas