by TomGilling (Author)
New South Wales, 1856: Miles McGinty and Isabel Dowling are born on the same night into different worlds. Miles is the illegitimate son of an actress in a troupe of travelling players, Isabel the rebellious daughter of a merchant banker, her home a red-brick mansion in one of Sydney's better suburbs. Both are destined to defy convention - and gravity. She rides in a balloon at the age of seven, defying the tweed-coated official who'd asked for a boy. He learns to float in mid-air with the aid of a mysterious showman and storyteller. But Miles becomes possessed by a secret ambition, the desire to build and ride in a flying machine. When his path finally crosses Isabel's, he knows he's met the only person who can share his adventurous vision. Packed with delightful, sometimes disturbing characters, and richly evocative of the teeming world of 19th-century Australia, MILES MCGINTY is a rare, not-to-be missed treat.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 198
Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
Published: 02 Sep 2002
ISBN 10: 0755302117
ISBN 13: 9780755302116
Book Overview: Tom Gilling is also the author of The Sooterkin .
Prizes: Shortlisted for NSW Premier's Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2002.