Red Heaven (novel)

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Red Heaven
Red Heaven.jpg
Author Nicolas Rothwell
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
Publisher Text Publishing
Publication date
3 August 2021
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages378 pp.
Awards2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction, winner
ISBN 9781922458049

Red Heaven is a 2021 novel by the Australian author Nicolas Rothwell. [1]

Contents

It was the winner of the 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Fiction. [2]

Synopsis

The unnamed boy at the centre of this novel is raised by two aunts in Europe: Serghiana, who is the daughter of a Soviet general in the communist regime who goes on to work as a film producer in California; Madame Ady, who is a fashionable Viennese woman married to a famous conductor. How these two conflicting aunts try to influence the boy will have a profound effect on him for the rest of his life.

Notes

Critical reception

In Australian Book Review reviewer Paul Giles noted: "Abjuring the idea of the novel as a mere social construction, Red Heaven attempts instead to resuscitate ‘ghosts’ buried deep within the narrator’s psyche." The reviewer concluded that the novel "is a work of genuine intellectual exploration, original and provocative on its own hermetic terms." [3]

Awards

See also

References

  1. "Red Heaven by Nicolas Rothwell". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  2. 1 2 Burke, Kelly (13 December 2022). "Prime Minister's Literary awards 2022: Nicolas Rothwell and Mark Willacy win major prizes". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  3. ""Giving breath to the ghosts"". Australian Book Review, October 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  4. "Austlit — Red Heaven by Nicolas Rothwell — Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 14 January 2025.