Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand: Picador, 2001. Hdb ISBN 0330363239

Canada, Hong Kong, USA: Scribner / Simon & Schuster, 2002. Hdb ISBN 0743228022

UK: Picador, 2002. Hdb ISBN 0330490249

Tim Winton has already written novels that have met high critical acclaim. Dirt Music is probably his best to date. Set firstly, in a fictional fishing village and secondly, in the wild and spectacular gorge country of Western Australia, it presents three very different characters, each of whom have suffered wrenching loss or violence and each of whom now seek to shed the past and reinvent themselves. It is a novel about the odds of breaking with the past, a love story about people stifled by grief or regret, whose dreams are lost, whose hopes have dried up. It's a journey across landscapes within and without. Indeed, this remarkable novel stands out for the skill with which the characters, both principals and chorus, are created and portrayed. The prose is as evocative and beautiful as its western setting. Dirt Music confirms Winton's standing as an Australian writer who well deserves his world-class reputation.

Picador Australia posted on its website some good reading group notes. View the notes.