Four Fires
by Bryce Courtenay
About the AuthorBryce Courtenay, bestselling Australian author, wrote his first book, The Power of One, at the age of fifty-five. This became the largest-selling book by a living Australian author within Australia, with over half a million copies sold locally. Having lived in Sydney for forty years, Bryce is a patriotic Australian, who is passionate about Australia becoming a truly great nation in the 21st century. Committed to the cause of literacy and the importance of motivating young people to read, he is actively involved with literacy programs in primary schools Australia-wide. From AudioFileAn Australian family of drunks and garbage collectors surprises itself and the community with an abundance of grace, intelligence, and courage. Mole Maloney's first-person narrative spans the years from WWII to the Vietnam War. Humphrey Bower, speaking as Mole, delivers every possible nuance and emotion of his character's story, and shows a startling aptitude for other dialects as well. Close family friends and enemies include surviving Polish Jews, an East Indian healer, an Irish Catholic priest, Japanese prison camp soldiers, and many others. All of them, young and old, male and female, spring to vivid life in Bower's versatile voice. Narrative passages and dialogue elicit tears and laughter by turns, without a minute of boredom in the 30-hour production. R.P.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine