The Sound of One Hand ClappingA sweeping novel of world war, migration, and the search for new beginnings in a new land, The Sound of One Hand Clapping was both critically acclaimed and a best-seller in Australia. It is a virtuoso performance from an Australian who is emerging as one of our most talented new storytellers. It was 1954, in a construction camp for a hydroelectric dam in the remote Tasmanian highlands, where Bojan Buloh had brought his family to start a new life away from Slovenia, the privations of war, and refugee settlements. One night, Bojan's wife walked off into a blizzard, never to return -- leaving Bojan to drink too much to quiet his ghosts, and to care for his three-year-old daughter Sonja alone. Thirty-five years later, Sonja returns to Tasmania and a father haunted by memories of the European war and other, more recent horrors. As the shadows of the past begin to intrude ever more forcefully into the present, Sonja's empty life and her father's living death are to change forever. The Sound of One Hand Clapping is about the barbarism of an old world left behind, about the harshness of a new country, and the destiny of those in a land beyond hope who seek to redeem themselves through love. |
Contents
1954 | 1 |
1967 | 9 |
1989 | 17 |
1989 | 20 |
1989 | 26 |
1954 | 30 |
1989 | 33 |
1989 | 35 |
1990 | 241 |
1990 | 247 |
1954 | 259 |
1966 | 263 |
1966 | 270 |
1966 | 274 |
1966 | 276 |
1966 | 278 |
1954 | 41 |
1989 | 47 |
1989 | 50 |
1989 | 55 |
1954 | 64 |
1989 | 70 |
1989 | 74 |
1959 | 80 |
1959 | 84 |
1959 | 93 |
1989 | 97 |
1989 | 101 |
1989 | 105 |
1989 | 114 |
1959 | 119 |
1959 | 123 |
1960 | 132 |
1989 | 137 |
1960 | 143 |
1960 | 150 |
1960 | 156 |
1989 | 163 |
1990 | 168 |
1990 | 173 |
1990 | 180 |
1990 | 184 |
1961 | 189 |
1961 | 192 |
1961 | 200 |
1961 | 204 |
1961 | 213 |
1962 | 219 |
1962 | 225 |
1962 | 230 |
1990 | 235 |
1990 | 238 |
1966 | 280 |
1966 | 281 |
1966 | 285 |
1966 | 289 |
1966 | 294 |
1990 | 299 |
1990 | 302 |
1990 | 303 |
1990 | 306 |
1967 | 314 |
1967 | 318 |
1967 | 321 |
1967 | 327 |
1990 | 330 |
1990 | 336 |
1990 | 338 |
1990 | 342 |
1990 | 350 |
1990 | 352 |
1990 | 360 |
1990 | 364 |
1990 | 371 |
1954 | 376 |
1990 | 383 |
1954 | 386 |
1954 | 390 |
1954 | 396 |
1954 | 398 |
1990 | 405 |
1954 | 407 |
1990 | 411 |
1990 | 414 |
Chapter 85 | 417 |
Chapter 86 | 417 |
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Common terms and phrases
arms Artie asked Australians baby beautiful beer bloody blue angel body Bojan looked bottle Butlers Gorge Chapter child cigarette Cox's Orange Pippins dark daughter Dean Martin Show Domobran door dreams dress drink drunk earth edelweiss empty eucalypts eyes face father feel fingers flesh flowers forever front fuck fucken gelignite hand hard head Heaney Helvi Hobart Huon pine Jean Jean's Jiri kitchen lace laughed Maja Picotti Mama Maria Buloh Maritza Michnik Moira momentarily morning mother mouth never night no-one once photograph pushed rain realised schnapps seemed Slovenian slowly smell smiled snow Sonja felt Sonja knew Sonja looked spoke stared stood stopped strange talk Tasmania teapot tell terrible things thought Bojan Buloh took Tullah turkish coffee turned vegemite voice waiting walked watched wind window wished woman words