Smithy is a retired shearer turned vineyard worker in his autumn years. It is hard graft, but Smithy has always worked with his hands. Physically all but destroyed after a lifetime of hard liquor, but now sober, he begins to see the world with new eyes, a meditative, singular figure in the town's bar on rowdy Friday nights. But clarity can be a curse. Finally confronting his past, overwhelmed by long-buried feelings of regret, nostalgia and loss, Smithy steps in to help a young woman in a desperate situation. A cautious friendship develops, but Charlotte's husband is widely suspected of murder, and Smithy begins to fear that he will pay a high price for his gallantry. Written with an authentic music, and infused with beauty, brutality and sadness The Vintage and the Gleaning is a compelling observation of men, women and country. A remarkably accomplished debut novel.
- ISBN10 1780871635
- ISBN13 9781780871639
- Publish Date 26 April 2012 (first published 2 August 2010)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 June 2023
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Quercus Publishing
- Imprint MacLehose Press
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 272
- Language English