''Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish'' is a 2001 novel by

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Richard Flanagan Richard Miller Flanagan (born 1961) is an Australian writer, who has also worked as a film director and screenwriter. He won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel '' The Narrow Road to the Deep North''. Flanagan was described by the ''Washing ...

. ''Gould's Book of Fish'' was Flanagan's third novel.

Plot summary

''Gould's Book of Fish'' is a fictionalised account of the convict

William Buelow Gould William Buelow Gould (1801 – 11 December 1853) was an English and Van Diemonian (Tasmanian) painter. He was transported to Australia as a convict in 1827, after which he would become one of the most important early artists in the colony, des ...

's life both at Macquarie Harbour and elsewhere during his life in Van Diemen's Land.

Chapter titles (the twelve fish)

# The Pot-bellied Seahorse #The Kelpy # The Porcupine Fish # The Stargazer #The Leatherjacket #The Serpent Eel #The Sawtooth Shark # The Striped Cowfish # The Crested Weedfish # The Freshwater Crayfish # The Silver Dory # The Weedy Seadragon

Artwork

The novel is unusual in that it makes use of paintings by the real Van Diemonian convict artist

reproduced with permission from William Gould's ''Sketchbook of Fishes'', held by the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, in the

State Library of Tasmania The State Reference Library is the reference library in the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is part of Libraries Tasmania. Libraries Tasmania includes a state-wide network of library services, community learning, adult literacy and the State� ...

. These images of fish are used both as chapter headings and inspiration for characters. Different editions around the world have used different images of Gould's for their cover.

Notes

*Dedication: "For Rosie, Jean and Eliza, swimming in ever widening rings of wonder." *Epigraph: "My mother is a fish." –

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

Awards

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

, South-East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book, 2002: winner *

, Overall Best Book Award, 2002: winner *

Miles Franklin Literary Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

, 2002: shortlisted *

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...

, The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 2002: winner *Booksellers Choice Award, 2001: shortlisted *Australian Literary Society Gold Medal, 2002

Reviews

* *''The Christian Science Monitor''
"Lowly fish battle Tasmanian devil"
Ron Charles, 28 March 2002 *''The Guardian'
"In the hands of madmen"
Alex Clark 1 June 2002 *''The Daily Telegraph'

Will Cohu, Deep Down Under *''New York Times'

Michiko Kakutani, 'A Reborn Criminal Distils Beauty From a Prison's Abominable Depths' *''The Observer'
"Con fishing"
Robert MacFarlane, 26 May 2002 *''Australian Book Review'

Brian Matthews, 'The Ministry of Fish'

References

{{Convicts in Australia 2001 Australian novels Western Tasmania Novels by Richard Flanagan Novels set in Tasmania ALS Gold Medal winning works Postmodern novels Pan Books books