Description
Absurd, original and highly addictive, Their Brilliant Careers is a hilarious novel in the guise of sixteen biographies of (invented) Australian writers. Subjects include Rachel Deverall, who unearthed the secret source of the great literature of our time and paid a terrible price for her discovery; Rand Washington, hugely popular sci-fi author, body-builder and inveterate racist; and Addison Tiller, whose stories set in the outback were bestsellers even though he had never actually travelled outside Sydney. And let's not forget experimental writer Arthur ruhtrA, who wrote a whole novel without once using the letter C. Every page - from the dedication to the index - is fraudulent, each biography interweaving with the rest to form a magnificent lie. The result is a sparklingly inventive award-winning novel.
About the Author
Ryan O'Neill was born in Glasgow but now lives in Australia. His short-story collection The Weight of a Human Heart was shortlisted for the 2012 Queensland Literary Awards. His debut novel Their Brilliant Careers, first published in Australia in 2016, won the Australian PM's Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Reviews
`Blackly hilarious and structurally audacious' - The Spectator; `A divine satire on the narcissism of the literary world' - The i Paper ; `The most unexpected literary delight of my year' - Irish Independent; `Their Brilliant Careers ... brims with crackerjack wit. Pressure is subtly built; punchlines are explosive' - Australian Book Review; `[Ryan O'Neill] offers a book that is a piss-take, a celebration, a revisionist history and, perhaps most impressively, exceedingly good fun' - The Australian; `A top-to-tail fiction that trades in plausibility...mercilessly funny in places' - Sydney Morning Herald
Awards
Winner of Prime Minister's Award for Fiction 2017. Short-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2017.
Book Information
ISBN 9781785630798
Author Ryan O'Neill
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Lightning Books
Publisher Eye Books
About the Author
Ryan O'Neill was born in Glasgow but now lives in Australia. His short-story collection The Weight of a Human Heart was shortlisted for the 2012 Queensland Literary Awards. His debut novel Their Brilliant Careers, first published in Australia in 2016, won the Australian PM's Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Reviews
`Blackly hilarious and structurally audacious' - The Spectator; `A divine satire on the narcissism of the literary world' - The i Paper ; `The most unexpected literary delight of my year' - Irish Independent; `Their Brilliant Careers ... brims with crackerjack wit. Pressure is subtly built; punchlines are explosive' - Australian Book Review; `[Ryan O'Neill] offers a book that is a piss-take, a celebration, a revisionist history and, perhaps most impressively, exceedingly good fun' - The Australian; `A top-to-tail fiction that trades in plausibility...mercilessly funny in places' - Sydney Morning Herald
Awards
Winner of Prime Minister's Award for Fiction 2017. Short-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2017.
Book Information
ISBN 9781785630798
Author Ryan O'Neill
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Lightning Books
Publisher Eye Books
