Faber & Faber

Parrot and Olivier in America: Peter Carey

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Synopsis:

From the two-time Booker Prize-winning author, an improvisation on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville, and an irrepressibly funny portrait of the impossible friendship between a master and a servant.

Olivier is a French aristocrat, the traumatised child of survivors of the Revolution; Parrot the son of an itinerant English printer who always wanted to be an artist but has ended up a servant. Born on different sides of history, their lives will be joined by their travels in America.

When Olivier sets sail for the New World - ostensibly to study its prisons but in reality to save his neck from one more revolution - Parrot is sent with him, as spy, protector, foe and foil. As the narrative shifts between the perspectives of Parrot and Olivier, and their picaresque travels together and apart - in love and politics, prisons and the world of art - Peter Carey explores the adventure of American democracy, in theory and in practice, with dazzling wit and inventiveness.

Options:

• Audio snippet: Peter Carey reads from Parrot and Olivier in America [1 of 2]
• Audio snippet: Peter Carey reads from Parrot and Olivier in America [2 of 2]

Tags:

Categorised as:

Fiction

Sub-categories:

General Fiction

Places:

America

Genres & Themes:

America; Democracy; Discovery; Friendship; Picaresque

Events:

Peter Carey at Foyles, Feb 02; Guardian Review Book Club with Peter Carey, Feb 03

Related Articles:

Q & A with Peter Carey