Illywhacker - Hardcover

Carey, Peter

3.77

2,995 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571132073 ISBN 13: 9780571132072

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 1985

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From the author of OSCAR AND LUCINDA and JACK MAGGS, a humorous novel narrated by the 109-year-old 'illywhacker', or confidence trickster, of the title, who recalls jokes, inventions and characters from his life.

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From the Back Cover:

In Australian slang, an illywhacker is a country fair con man, an unprincipled seller of fake diamonds and dubious tonics. And Herbert Badgery, the 139-year-old narrator of Peter Carey's uproarious novel, may be the king of them all. Vagabond and charlatan, aviator and car salesman, seducer and patriarch, Badgery is a walking embodiment of the Australian national character - especially of its proclivity for tall stories and barefaced lies. As Carey follows this charming scoundrel across a continent and a century, he creates a crazy quilt of outlandish encounters, with characters that include a genteel dowager who fends off madness with an electric belt and a ravishing young girl with a dangerous fondness for rooftop trysts. Boldly inventive, irresistibly odd, Illywhacker is further proof that Peter Carey is one of the most enchanting writers at work in any hemisphere.

About the Author:

PETER CAREY is the author of thirteen previous novels. In addition to the Booker Prize, his honors include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Born in Australia, he has lived in New York City for more than twenty-five years.

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