Blackberries: Allen & Unwin shorts

By Thomas Keneally

A short story by award-winning author Thomas Keneally.

Austin North sees himself as a fine English teacher in his local high school. His students respect him, and he finds personal fulfillment in teaching them the power of poetry to move and inspire. However, Austin's self-perceptions are upset by his infatuation with a young Sudanese girl, a recent immigrant to Australia. When Austin realises that he is just another predator in her difficult journey, he is forced to re-examine his own values and relationships.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781742698687

Book preview

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Allen & Unwin brings you short stories from some of Australia’s most respected contemporary writers, published only in ebook format. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, try one over lunch, or on your way home!

Titles in the A&U Shorts program:

Georgia Blain, Mirrored

Tom Keneally, Blackberries

Alex Miller, Manuka

Peter Temple, Ithaca in my Mind

Christos Tsiolkas, Sticks, Stones

Charlotte Wood, Nanoparticles

Thomas Keneally was born in 1935 and has written prodigiously, both fiction and non-fiction. His novels include Bring Larks and Heroes, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Gossip from the Forest, Schindler’s Ark and The People’s Train. He has the won the Miles Franklin Award, the Booker Prize, the Los Angeles Book Prize, the Royal Society of Literature Prize, the Scripter Award of the University of Southern California, the Mondello International Prize and the Helmerich Prize. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Judy, and is Number 1 ticket-holder of the Manly-Warringah Rugby League team.

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First published in the Books Alive collection 10 Short Stories You Must Read This Year,

(The Australia Council, 2009)

This edition published in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin in 2012

Copyright © Tom Keneally 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior

permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968

(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book,

whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its

educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that

administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited

(CAL) under the Act.

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ISBN 978 1 74269 868 7 (e-book)

Ebook Production by Midland Typesetters Australia

Blackberries

Tom Keneally

Austin North stood before his best year ten class. The smart alecks in it were intellectual, verbal smart alecks. In contrast to the rootless imitations of