And the Winner of the 2017 Award is .....
Extinctions
Josephine Wilson
Professor Frederick Lothian, retired engineer, world expert
on concrete and connoisseur of modernist design, has quarantined himself from
life by moving to a retirement village. His wife, Martha, is dead and his two
adult children are lost to him in their own ways. Surrounded and obstructed by
the debris of his life – objects he has collected over many years and tells
himself he is keeping for his daughter – he is determined to be miserable, but
is tired of his existence and of the life he has chosen. When a series of
unfortunate incidents forces him and his neighbour, Jan, together, he begins to
realise the damage done by the accumulation of a lifetime’s secrets and lies,
and to comprehend his own shortcomings.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Josephine Wilson has become the fifth Western Australian
writer to take out the top prize. Ms Wilson said: "As a Western Australian
writer published by a local publisher, it is often hard to be embraced by the
national writing culture. I am honoured to be included with my peers under the
name of Miles Franklin."
