The Turning

Each of these overlapping stories centres on a transformation; together they form the bestselling Australian collection of the last three decades. Tim Winton’s characters are people we’re familiar with – their struggles and small triumphs are our own. Here they change in ways that are sometimes vast, sometimes indistinct, but every story illuminates things we take for granted. Even as some of these lives turn from expansive hope to defeated middle-age, there’s a sense of greater possibility, fuelled by the great turning of time itself.

About the Author :
Tim Winton is the acclaimed and award-winning Australian author of more than 30 books for adults and children, including two Booker Prize–shortlisted novels Dirt Music and The Riders. His work has been translated into more than 24 languages and adapted for film, television, stage and radio. He has won the Miles Franklin Award a record four times: for Shallows (1984), Cloudstreet (1992), Dirt Music (2002) and Breath (2009). The Turning also won the 2005 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction while Cloudstreet regularly appears in lists of Australia's best-loved novels. His latest novel is Juice (2024). Winton has been named as a National Living Treasure by the Australian National Trust and awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian government for services to literature and the community. Winton was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for ‘distinguished service to literature as an author and novelist, to conservation, and to environmental advocacy’. Winton is patron of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers sponsored by the City of Subiaco, Western Australia and is the patron of two environmental advocacy organisations: the Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Stop the Toad Foundation. He lives in Western Australia. Humphrey Bower is a gifted and versatile actor. Since obtaining a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature at Oxford University, he has worked extensively in theatre, television and audiobook narration. Humphrey won the prestigious Audie Award (US) for his performance of The Family Frying Pan by Bryce Courtenay, and was shortlisted for an Audie Award for his performances of Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan and Brother Fish by Bryce Courtenay. Humphrey's sensitive and intelligent readings are highly regarded and he is well-known for his capacity to perform a variety of accents. Caroline Lee is a gifted actor and audiobook narrator who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. Caroline has narrated a large number of bestselling titles, including Apples Never Fall, Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. On stage, she has performed for various theatre companies including the Melbourne Theatre Company and recently appeared in The Newsreader on the ABC. She has received three Green Room Awards for Best Actress, and four AudioFile Earphones Awards, including Best Audiobook of the Year 2016 for Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty.

Review :
'As a collection of short stories [The Turning] is magnificent, but it also transcends its form and makes a breathtakingly beautiful and challenging novel.' 'Plot and prose combine to create what might just come close to being the perfect Australian novel.' '[A] remarkable collection of interlinked short stories ... a superbly balanced whole.' 'To read [Winton] is to be reminded not just of the possibilities of fiction but of the human heart.' "Listening to The Turning in Sydney traffic was like diving into the refreshing West Australian oceans that Winton describes with such passion. It wasn't hard to imagine the hum of passing traffic to be the wind or the ocean in a storm. The Turning translates easily to audiobook, albeit across a massive 10 discs. At that length, it's the perfect holiday book to be uploaded to an iPod and listened to at your leisure, or better yet, for the corrugated drive northward from Perth, which all West Australians do at one time or other, through the very country the book encapsulates. Winton's characters are brought to life with an accent that combines gruffness and comfort. The narrators – Humphrey Bower and Caroline Lee – alternate with the stories, which helps keep the momentum. The broad and gentle Australian accents of the story-tellers echo the dry, pastoral Australian feel of the stories themselves, highlighting the measured cadence of Winton's sentences. The end result is that each story, no matter how disquieting, becomes intimate and strangely beautiful, laden with dust and sea salt."