The Ballad of Desmond Kale
Book by Roger McDonald
1-74166-114-5
The Ballad of Desmond Kale is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Roger McDonald.[1]
Dedication
For Lorna McDonald
with love and thanks
for gifts of conversation, friendship, and example
over a lifetime
Synopsis
Desmond Kale escapes from his detention at Botany Bay and heads into the bush to look after a flock of Merino sheep. Meanwhile the wardens at the prison seek his re-arrest.
Critical reception
Luise Toma on "MC Reviews" noted:
McDonald tells his epic with opulence and a humour so understated you may find yourself laughing pages after you have read a joke because a regular brain is unable to process the author’s quick wit at appropriate speed. Capturing the lingo of the times and circumstances, in a way that makes me wonder whether the man might have a time machine stowed away in his estate’s stable, McDonald evokes a rich cast of foul-mouthed convicts and stiff officials, bumbling beaurocrats [sic] and long-suffering mothers, missionaries, indigenous folk, idiots and bush-philosophers. All of them come to life so easily and in such a convincing manner, the novel reads almost like a giant story board for something of the likes of Nick Cave's The Proposition.[2]
Awards
- Miles Franklin Award, winner 2006[3]
- International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted 2007[3]
- Festival Awards for Literature (SA) Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature — Award for Fiction, winner 2008[3]
References
See also
- 2005 in Australian literature
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Miles Franklin Award
- Voss by Patrick White (1957)
- To the Islands by Randolph Stow (1958)
- The Big Fellow by Vance Palmer (1959)
- The Irishman by Elizabeth O'Conner (1960)
- Riders in the Chariot by Patrick White (1961)
- The Well Dressed Explorer by Thea Astley (1962)
- The Cupboard Under the Stairs by George Turner (1962)
- Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott (1963)
- My Brother Jack by George Johnston (1964)
- The Slow Natives by Thea Astley (1965)
- Trap by Peter Mathers (1966)
- Bring Larks and Heroes by Thomas Keneally (1967)
- Three Cheers for the Paraclete by Thomas Keneally (1968)
- Clean Straw for Nothing by George Johnston (1969)
- A Horse of Air by Dal Stivens (1970)
- The Unknown Industrial Prisoner by David Ireland (1971)
- The Acolyte by Thea Astley (1972)
- No award (1973)
- The Mango Tree by Ronald McKie (1974)
- Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert (1976)
- The Glass Canoe by David Ireland (1977)
- Swords and Crowns and Rings by Ruth Park (1978)
- A Woman of the Future by David Ireland (1979)
- The Impersonators by Jessica Anderson (1980)
- Bliss by Peter Carey (1981)
- Just Relations by Rodney Hall (1982)
- No award (1983)
- Shallows by Tim Winton (1984)
- The Doubleman by Christopher Koch (1985)
- The Well by Elizabeth Jolley (1986)
- Dancing on Coral by Glenda Adams (1987)
- No award (1988)
- Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1989)
- Oceana Fine by Tom Flood (1990)
- The Great World by David Malouf (1991)
- Cloudstreet by Tim Winton (1992)
- The Ancestor Game by Alex Miller (1993)
- The Grisly Wife by Rodney Hall (1994)
- The Hand That Signed the Paper by Helen Darville (1995)
- Highways to a War by Christopher Koch (1996)
- The Glade Within the Grove by David Foster (1997)
- Jack Maggs by Peter Carey (1998)
- Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (1999)
- Drylands by Thea Astley (2000)
- Benang by Kim Scott (2000)
- Dark Palace by Frank Moorhouse (2001)
- Dirt Music by Tim Winton (2002)
- Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller (2003)
- The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard (2004)
- The White Earth by Andrew McGahan (2005)
- The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald (2006)
- Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (2007)
- The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll (2008)
- Breath by Tim Winton (2009)
- Truth by Peter Temple (2010)
- That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (2011)
- All That I Am by Anna Funder (2012)
- Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (2013)
- All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld (2014)
- The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna (2015)
- Black Rock White City by A. S. Patrić (2016)
- Extinctions by Josephine Wilson (2017)
- The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser (2018)
- Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (2019)
- The Yield by Tara June Winch (2020)
- The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey (2021)
- Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down (2022)
- Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran (2023)
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