Carry On Ireland

Maria Joan Hyland was born in London of Irish parents, but her Arts/Law degree from the University of Melbourne surely qualifies her as an Aussie author, particularly if she wins the Booker. Or so the Australia Council must have thought when awarding her the scholarship which supports her to live in Rome these days.

But she won't, not for this one. The 2006 Booker seems to be specialising in odd authorial voices, in this case that of a gangly 11 year Irish child who only gets about 30% of whats going on around him. That trick worked a treat for Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day but here one rapidly tires of the child's obtuseness and obsessions.