The Idea of Perfection

…to her clearly understated novel The Idea of Perfection (1999). Garner’s work includes The Children’s Bach (1984) and True Stories: Selected Non-Fiction (1996), which draws upon fact as well as fiction. Hospital’s Collected Stories 1970–1995 appeared in 1995. Jolley’s enigmatic fiction includes Miss Peabody’s Inheritance (1983) and The Well (1986).…

…achieved major international success with The Idea of Perfection (1999), a story of the growing attraction between a recent divorcé and a woman whose third marriage ended with her husband’s suicide, two outsiders thrown together in a small town in the Australian bush. The best-selling novel—which also explored issues facing…