'Luca Antara is a book-lover's book, a graceful and mesmerizing blend of history, autobiography, travel and romance.' - JM Coetzee

Part memoir, travelogue, history and part detective story, Luca Antara is a rich tapestry of history and the present. It parallels the life of the author, an emigre to Sydney, and the life of an historical figure, Antonio da Nova, the servant of a Portuguese explorer who in the 1600s sends him to find out more about Luca Antara (now Australia).

New to Sydney, Martin Edmond finds himself impoverished and displaced. He earns money as a taxi driver but spends his spare time frequenting second hand bookshops trying to learn more about the history of Australia and the wider region. The people Edmond encounters in his taxi and in his search for rare books are varied and strange, offering the reader a voyeuristic glimpse into Sydney's sub-culture.

Sent to discover more about Luca Antara, Antonio da Nova's crew mutiny and dump him on the West Australian coast. He is found by Aborigines, who take him on an epic walk across northern Australia. Eventually he manages to return to his master in Portugal who awaits news of his explorations.

Edmond's reading centres upon da Nova, but each book he reads leads to another and the subject becomes broader and increasingly fascinating. The lives of the two men and the strange customs and unique social mores of each man's culture and time intertwine throughout the book, ending with Edmond literally walking in the footsteps of da Nova across northern Australia.

About the Author
Martin Edmond grew up in a remote mountain village in New Zealand's King Country. After university, he joined avant theatre troupe Red Mole, touring extensively and internationally in the late 1970s. Since 1981 he has lived in Sydney, working as an author and a screenwriter. He has written the feature films Illustrious Energy and Terra Nova; his books include The Autobiography of my Father, The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont and Chronicle of the Unsung, which won the Biography Award at the 2005 Montana Book Awards.

Reviews
Reading this book is like listening to someone whose companionable, open-ended stories are absorbing yet elusive: you must make of them what you will -- Artemis Cooper * Daily Telegraph *
part autobiography, part history, part travel book and part quest narrative, an unusual combination that nevertheless works. Indeed, Edmond's text is often a pure pleasure to read -- John Clay * The Literary Review *
On one level, Edmond's curiously ambiguous book might be mistaken for a novel; on another, it is autobiography; on yet another it is literary history -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *
In this part-memoir, part-fiction, part-history, Edmond attempts to find 'Luca Antara', the fabled land down under -- Naomi Mapstone * The Financial Times *
ultimately, any memoir's agenda may be to present the multifariousness of the self, and where Edmond the protagonist is most vivid is in his evocations of his adopted Australia -- Jim Shepard * New York Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9781842433195
Author Martin Edmond
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Oldcastle Books Ltd
Publisher Oldcastle Books Ltd