Once upon a time that was called 1828, before all fishes in the sea and all living things on the land were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould, a white convict who fell in love with a black woman and discovered too late that to love is not safe. Silly Billy Gould, invader of Australia, liar, murderer and forger, condemned to the most feared penal colony in the British Empire and there ordered to paint a book of fish. Once upon a time, there were miracles...Richard Flanagan's Commonwealth Prize-winning classic is published here for the first time in Vintage Classics.

Author Biography

Richard Flanagan was born in Tasmania in 1961. Regarded internationally as one of Australia's best novelists, his multi-award-winning novels, Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould's Book of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist, and Wanting have been published to popular success and critical acclaim in twenty-five countries. His most recent work is a collection of his non-fiction pieces, And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?.