Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2012
304 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Set in the Australian bush, a wryly funny, beautifully observed novel about friendship, motherhood, love, and the importance of fighting for things that matter.
Loretta Boskovic never dreamed she would end up a single mother with two kids in a dusty Australian country town. She never imagined she'd have to campaign to save the local primary school. She certainly had no idea her best friend would turn out to be the crusty old junk man. All in all, she's starting to wonder if she took a wrong turn somewhere. If only she could drop the kids at the orphanage and start over ... But now, thanks to her protest letters, the education minister is coming to Gunapan, and she has to convince him to change his mind about the school closure. And as if facing down the government isn't enough, it soon becomes clear that the school isn't the only local spot in trouble. In the drought-stricken bushland on the outskirts of town, a luxury resort development is about to siphon off a newly discovered springwater supply. No one seems to know anything, no one seems to care.
With a dream lover on a Harley unlikely to appear to save the day, Loretta needs to stir the citizens of Gunapan to action. She may be short of money, influence, and a fully functioning car, but she has good friends. Together they can organize chocolate drives, supermarket sausage sizzles, a tour of the local slaughterhouse - whatever it takes to hold on to the scrap of world that is home.
"Starred Review. [R]eaders will see clearly why in this little corner of the world, even a little rust and dust is worth fighting for." - Publishers Weekly
"O'Reilly is funny and touching by turns and her style has a spare intelligence that reminded me of another of my favourite authors, the great Laurie Graham." - Daily Mail (UK)
"A delight … The author has a wryly-humorous touch and, once I started reading, I found it hard to put down. It.'s peopled with characters who are quirky but credible, and universally recognizable." - New Books Mag
"Can anyone write the story of a whirligig single mother gamely and hilariously fighting development of her small town better than Paddy O'Reilly? No, and nor should they try." - Weekend Australian
"A story about love: where we look for it, what we do with it, and how it shows up in the most unexpected packages." - Big Issue (Australia)
"Delightful, laugh-out-loud funny, and unforgettable. I love this book." - Toni Jordan, author of Addition
"I adored The Fine Color of Rust. It's funny, irreverent and highly entertaining. I was sad to finish it, and I still miss Loretta!" - Liane Moriarty, author of What Alice Forgot
This information about The Fine Color of Rust was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Paddy O'Reilly is a writer from Victoria, Australia. Her work has been published and broadcast widely in Australia and internationally. Her short story collection, The End of the World, was shortlisted for several awards. Her debut novel The Factory was broadcast in fifteen episodes as the ABC Radio National Book Reading in 2009.
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