Carpentaria

Set in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance, Carpentaria is the unforgettable portrait of the powerful Phantom family, leaders of the Westend Pricklebush people, and their battles with old Joseph Midnight's renegade Eastend mob, and the white officials of Uptown and the Gurfurrit mine. Wright's richly imagined storytelling is a blend of myth and scripture, farce and politics. Her characters - Elias Smith the outcast-saviour, religious zealot Mozzie Fishman, the murderous mayor Stan Bruiser, moth-ridden Captain Nicoll Finn, prodigal son Will Phantom, and, above all, the family rulers, queen of the rubbish dump Angel Day and the fish-embalming king of time Normal Phantom - stride across a storm-swept world.

Winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award.