ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

 I hope my readers appreciate the bookcover image of The Cupboard Under the Stairs by George Turner (1916-1997).  This novel, which with The Well-dressed Explorer by Thea Astley was joint winner of the Miles Franklin Award for 1962,  is very rare and was jolly hard to get hold of! 

Perhaps because it is so rare, I haven’t been able to find out anything about the book, much less a review, but I did find a speech made about Turner when he won the Chandler Award , and there is a bio about him at aussiecon.   So if I get my act together to read and review this book it will be a scoop!

These are the opening lines:

She held the handset in panic, knowing she should set it back in the cradle, yet needing to hear the end.  He spoke slowly, gently, not pleading, but with the authority which was his symbol, ‘Please’.

She muttered, ‘Don’t be a fool,’ having nothing stronger to say, being caught in the suddenness of attack, in curiosity and spite and perverse attraction.  (p3)

Author: George Turner
Title: The Cupboard Under the Stairs
Publisher: Cassell & Company, London 1962 (First edition)
ISBN: none
Source: Personal library, purchased via Biblioz.