Five Bells

by Gail Jones

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Book cover for Five Bells

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On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying the glorious surroundings and the play of light on water.

But each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China's Cultural Revolution.

Told over the course of a single Saturday, Five Bells describes four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols. But it is a fifth person, a child, whose presence at the Quay haunts the day and who will overshadow everything that unfolds. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed.

Five Bells is a novel of singular beauty and power by one of Australia's most gifted novelists.

  • ISBN10 1846554020
  • ISBN13 9781846554025
  • Publish Date 10 March 2011
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 26 June 2015
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Vintage Publishing
  • Imprint Harvill Secker
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 224
  • Language English