Synopsis
With an introduction by Evie Wyld
The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville is a funny and touching romance between two people who've given up on love. Set in the eccentric little backwater of Karakarook, New South Wales, pop. 1374, it tells the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a gawky engineer with jug-handle ears, and Harley Savage, a woman altogether too big and too abrupt for comfort.
Harley is in Karakarook to foster 'Heritage', and Douglas is there to pull down the quaint old Bent Bridge. From day one, they're on a collision course. But out of this unpromising conjunction of opposites, something unexpected happens: sometimes even better than perfection.
Details
19 October 2017432 pages
9781509823437Imprint: Picador
Reviews
Grenville makes awkward atmospheres and fumbling encounters wonderfully vivid. Read it and cringeThe Times
From these two reticent characters, besieged by two lifetimes of regret, doubt and dismay, Grenville manufactures an extraordinary comedy of manners, made all more powerful by her own reticence as a writerGuardian
Outrageously entertainingDaily Mail
Mined throughout with little pockets of danger and depthGuardian
