Bodies of Men, Nigel Featherstone
Bodies of Men, Nigel Featherstone
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Bodies of Men

Author: Nigel Featherstone

Narrator: Stephen Phillips

Unabridged: 9 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/23/2019


Synopsis

Shortlisted for the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards - FICTION

Longlisted for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize

2019 Canberra Critics Circle Award - FICTION

'a beautiful, tender, captivating story' - Joanna Nell, author of The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village

'It is a tender, liberating love story, but, as Featherstone originally intended, a provoking one about our definitions of masculinity, bravery and courage.' - Canberra Times

'a novel about intimacy and devotion, the power of tenderness, the mysteries of time, presence, and absence, secrets revealed and withheld, and friendships between strangers emerging from dire circumstances' - Australian Book Review

There is nothing more important than love and refuge.

Egypt, 1941. Only hours after disembarking in Alexandria, William Marsh, an Australian lieutenant at twenty-one, is face down in the sand, caught in a stoush with the Italian enemy. He is saved by James Kelly, a childhood friend from Sydney and the last person he expected to see. But where William escapes unharmed, not all are so fortunate.

William is sent to supervise an army depot in the Western Desert, with a private directive to find an AWOL soldier: James Kelly. When the two are reunited, James is recovering from an accident, hidden away in the home of an unusual family - a family with secrets. Together they will risk it all to find answers.

Soon William and James are thrust headlong into territory more dangerous than either could have imagined.

'A beautifully written, tender and sensitive love story told within the tense and uncertain context of war.' - Karen Viggers, bestselling author of The Lightkeeper's Wife

'This is a strangely gentle novel about wartime conflict, violence, and chaos.' - Sydney Morning Herald

About Nigel Featherstone

Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer who has been published widely. His works include the story collection Joy (2000), his debut novel Remnants (2005), and The Beach Volcano (2014), which is the third in a series of novellas. He wrote the libretto for The Weight of Light, a contemporary song cycle that had its world premiere in 2018. He has held residencies at Varuna (Blue Mountains), Bundanon (Shoalhaven River), and UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy.He lives on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Amanda - on May 08, 2019

*[URL not allowed] Published widely throughout Australia, Nigel Featherstone is best known for his story collection piece Joy, his debut novel and popular novellas. Holding tenures at the well known writing residences of Varuna and Bundanon, has put Nigel Featherstone in excellent......more

Goodreads review by Khulud on May 15, 2019

"There is nothing more important than love and refuge." I read this beautiful and tender novel in two days. Only a few pages into the novel, I felt like the outside world was slowly beginning to fall away. Something was happening to me as a reader, and I couldn't understand this until somewhere aroun......more

Goodreads review by Holden on July 14, 2019

Bodies of Men is an incredible and touching novel and a beautifully written one at that. As a gay man it made me feel so many things, and I slowed down so much for the last 50 pages because I sensed the ending might not go the way I wanted it to go. This book is exquisite: a tale of love between two......more

Goodreads review by John on March 04, 2023

4 1/2 stars. This was a wonderful book. Both characters had my empathy from the start and I loved their backstory. Th way their paths crossed so infrequently was heartbreaking.......more

Goodreads review by Ceyrone on September 23, 2022

This was unexpected. This has been on my list of books to read for sometime now and it definitely did not disappoint. I was a bit hesitant as it’s set in Egypt during times of war, I was worried about the portrayal of the Egyptians. I have to say, I really love this. It’s a beautifully written story......more


Quotes

a novel about intimacy and devotion, the power of tenderness, the mysteries of time, presence, and absence, secrets revealed and withheld, and friendships between strangers emerging from dire circumstances

A beautiful story, so deftly constructed . . . Bodies of Men is a wonderful book.

Spare, elegant, beautifully written

A beautiful, lyrical, elegiac book of love and war. A different take on men and conflict, and
a war story like no other

Featherstone's writing rings with assurance, and echoes with love, memory and tenderness.

a beautiful, tender, captivating story

a tender, liberating love story, but... a provoking one about our definitions of masculinity, bravery and courage

rich in tone and reflective, revealing the fragile nature of relationships within the shadows of war. Bodies of Men is a profoundly moving piece of fiction from a perceptive writer.

a captivating and moving love story that acutely measures the deep paradox of the masculine condition... Featherstone brings it all together in refined, unpretentious prose - war writing without sentimentality or hyperbole. I was totally absorbed by this book, I think it's just the thing for readers of Sebastian Faulks. There are even some ethereal notes of Michael Ondaatje in this. It's that good.

Review to come