Miles McGinty

Miles McGinty

by TomGilling (Author)

Synopsis

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.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
Published: 03 Mar 2003

ISBN 10: 0755302125
ISBN 13: 9780755302123
Book Overview: Tom Gilling's first novel, The Sooterkin , was named by the New York Times as one of its notable books of 2000.
Prizes: Shortlisted for NSW Premier's Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2002.

Media Reviews
Gilling's wonderful novel blends Dickensian characters... with a love story pssessed of the simple moral force of a fairytale * The Times *
Strongly drawn characters... and an engaging, well-paced story... an enjoyable and imaginative novel that captures the excitement and uncertainty of pioneer efforts in the pre-airplane age * Historical Novels Review *
For anyone defeated by Peter Carey's hefty antipodean tomes, Tom Gilling's pared-down version of 19th-century Down Under may be the answer * Independent *
Tom Gilling pitches well as an entertainer. His novel [is] a jolly fable, with a beguiling lightness and enjoyable, wry humour * Daily Telegraph *
Gilling [takes] innovators, entrepreneurs and chance-takers and turns them into imaginative, charming heroes... A heart-warming adventure for all the family, and nothing wrong in that either * Scotsman *
More than worth reading for Gilling's use of language, some of it so good you feel like whooping * Glasgow Herald *
Author Bio
Tom Gilling studied English and German literature at the University of York. After emigrating to Australia in his early twenties, he became a journalist.