THEFT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Michaela.k.a. ButcherBoone is an exreally famous painter: opinionated, furious, brilliant, and now reduced to living in the remote country house of his biggest collector and acting as caretaker for his younger brother, Hugh, a damaged man of imposing physicality and childlike emotional volatility. Alone together theyve forged a delicate and shifting equilibrium, a balance instantly destroyed when a mysterious young woman named Marlene walks out of a rainstorm and into their lives on three-inch Manolo Blahnik heels. Beautiful, smart, and ambitious, shes also the daughter-in-law of the late great painter Jacques Liebovitz, one of Butchers earliest influences. Shes sweet to Hugh and falls in love with Butcher, and they reciprocate in kind. And she sets in motion a chain of events that could be the makingor the ruinof them all. Told through the alternating points of view of the brothersButchers urbane, intelligent, caustic observations contrasting with Hughs bizarre, frequently poetic, utterly unique voice Theft  reminds us once again of Peter Careys remarkable gift for creating indelible, fascinating characters and a narrative as gripping as it is deliriously surprising. Author: Peter Carey Pages: 269pp Format: Hardback ISBN: 9780307263711