The Art of the Engine Driver

A powerful novel about the difference one night can make.

Steven Carroll's subtly crafted novel is a poignant exploration of dashed hopes and suburban desperations...A rich and evocative novel with a strong sense of period.

An exquisitely crafted journey of Australian suburban life . . . fresh and irresistible

Miles Franklin Literary Award Judges, 2002

Deceptively simple, this novel has a quiet force

A veritable little gem . . . a beautiful discovery

Subtle, true and profoundly touching . . . from the first lines of this very beautiful novel by Steven Carroll, an indefinable charm is at work

A superb evocation of an almost-lost Australia

The Art of the Engine Driver is a stunning work of masterful storytelling and sparing, assured prose

Carroll has choreographed his story too well to be obvious. Resist the urge to flip to the end. It's the journey that rewards in this book, not the destination

Steven Carroll was born in Melbourne. His first novel, Remember Me, Jimmy James, was published in 1992. The Art of the Engine Driver (2001) and The Gift of Speed (2004) were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, which the final book in the trilogy, The Time We Have Taken, won in 2008. Steven Carroll lives in Melbourne with his partner and son.

There they are, still as a photograph, listening for the distant thud of the sun as it prepares to drop from the sky... 
 
On a hot summer's night, a family of three are off to a party in their bristling suburbia. But nothing is as it seems and soon we are walking with them through the past lives of a bully, a drunk and a disaffected youth. 
 
As the story of the neighbourhood unfolds the old and the new, diesel and steam, town and country all collide - and nobody will be left unaffected. 
 
The Art of the Engine Driver is a luminous and evocative take on ordinary suburban lives told with an extraordinary power and depth.

The Time We Have Taken

A powerfully moving tale of small-town life, this stunning novel won both the Miles Franklin and Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2008

A writer worth cherishing. His prose is unfailingly assured, lyrical, poised

What makes Steven Carroll's novels extraordinary is the metaphysical depth that he gives to his story

Exquisite... There are times in this book where I paused to admire the subtle craft of what Carroll is doing. Every piece of this book is sanded and planed and perfectly joined ... graceful and tender prose

It is the tender awareness he has of human frailty which lifts the spirit and implores us to simply think better of others and ourselves ... Carroll writes like a bird freed from a cage

Steven Carroll was born in Melbourne. His first novel, Remember Me, Jimmy James, was published in 1992. The Art of the Engine Driver (2001) and The Gift of Speed (2004) were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, which The Time We Have Taken won in 2008. Steven Carroll lives in Melbourne with his partner and son.

'That exotic tribe was us. And the time we have taken, our moment.' 
 
1970, Glenroy. One summer's morning Rita is awakened by a dream of her husband, only to look out onan empty bed.It's been years sinceVic moved north and left her life, but her house holds memories and part of her remains tied to a different time. As their son Michael enters the tender and challenging realm of first love, he too discovers that innocence can only be sustained for so long. 
 
As they prepare to celebrate Glenroy's 100th anniversary, the residents of the Melbourne suburb look back on a time of radical change. The time has come for them to consider the real meaning of progress - both as a community and in their personal lives. 
 
The Time We Have Taken is a powerful and poignant look at the extraordinary that lies within the ordinary, from a writer of breathtaking prose.

Steven Carroll

In 1960 the West Indies arrive in Australia and Michael, who is sixteen, is enthralled. If, like his heroes, he has the gift of speed, he will move beyond his suburb into the great world ... 
 
As his summer unfolds, Michael realises that there are other ways to live. When the calypso chorus accompanying Frank Worrell and his team fades, Michael has leartn many things ... about his parents, a girl called Kathleen Marsden, and about himself. 
 
The Gift of Speed is a masterful blend of story-telling, memorable characters and a uniquely Australian sensibility by a novelist at the height of his powers.

Steven Carroll

The Gift of Speed

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