Oscar and Lucinda
 First edition (Australia) | |
| Author | Peter Carey |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Pierre Le Tan |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | UQP |
Publication date | 1988 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | Print (Hardback, Paperback) |
| Pages | 528 pp |
| ISBN | 0-7022-2116-3 |
| OCLC | 21002433 |
| LC Class | MLCM 91/08820 (P) PR9619.3.C36 |
| Preceded by | Illywhacker |
| Followed by | The Tax Inspector |
Oscar and Lucinda is a novel by Australian author Peter Carey which won the 1988 Booker Prize and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted for The Best of the Booker.
Plot introduction
It tells the story of Oscar Hopkins, the Cornish son of a Plymouth Brethren minister who becomes an Anglican priest, and Lucinda Leplastrier, a young Australian heiress who buys a glass factory. They meet on the ship over to Australia, and discover that they are both gamblers, one obsessive, the other compulsive. Lucinda bets Oscar that he cannot transport a glass church from Sydney to a remote settlement at Bellingen, some 400 km up the New South Wales coast. This bet changes both their lives forever.
Inspiration
The novel partly takes its inspiration from Father and Son, the autobiography of the English poet Edmund Gosse, which describes his relationship with his father, Philip Henry Gosse.
Film
A film version released in 1997 was directed by Gillian Armstrong and starred Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, and Tom Wilkinson.