Awards

• Long-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2014.
• Short-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2014 (Australia)
• Shortlisted for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2014.

Overview

I was blinded by his beauty. In the one or two photographs I’ve kept of him I can still see it. He stares out of them almost miserably, as if his loveliness is an affliction. Not that I saw it that way, at least not in the beginning. In the beginning I thought it was a kind of miracle. Arthur Wheeler is haunted by his infatuation with a Japanese youth he encountered in the enemy alien camp where he worked as a guard during WW2. Abandoning his wife and baby son, Arthur sets out on a doomed mission to rescue his lover from forced deportation back to Japan, a country in ruins. Thus begins the secret history of a soldier at war with his own sexuality and dangerously at odds with the racism that underpins the crumbling British Empire. Four decades later Arthur is still obsessed with the traumatic events of his youth. He proposes a last reunion with his lost lover, in the hope of laying his ghosts to rest, but this mission too seems doomed to failure. Like Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and Snow Falling On Cedars, My Beautiful Enemy explores questions of desire and redemption against the background of a savage racial war. In this context, Arthur’s private battles against his own nature, and against the conventions of his time, can only end in heartache.

Full Product Details

9781922079893

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Hands down, Me and Mr Booker is one of the best coming-of-age novels I've ever read. In it, Cory Taylor has given us an irresistable, whip-smart heroine who thinks and speaks like the 16-year-old you wish you'd been. It's a compulsive read too: I devoured this novel in two sittings, only stopping because I needed to pace myself. Me and Mr Booker is sexy, smart and brutally funny, and reminds us that while teenagers grow up fast, it's only because they're surrounded by adults who behave like children.' -- Benjamin Law 'Cory Taylor's Me and Mr Booker has the heart of Lolita and the soul of Catcher In The Rye, this is one of the most assured debut novels I have ever read. These characters feel so real that they become almost family. Refreshing, surprising, sexy and ultimately very moving.' -- Krissy Kneen author of Affection and Tryptich 'Taylor's take on the oft-explored rite of passage from sweet, open-eyed childhood into the dark sexually charged realms of adolescent turmoil is distinctive, disturbing and refreshed by the limitless aptitude of middle-aged men for acting like spoilt teenagers. A vibrant, questioning and unpredictable read.' West Australian 'Me and Mr Booker is sharply observed and blackly comic, but it is also a tender depiction of love, sex, power and one girl's heartbreaking step into adulthood.' Australian Bookseller + Publisher 'Controlled and elegant.' -- David Vann author of Caribou Island and Dirt 'Vividly cinematic...Taylor's vivid evocation of lowered expectations and empty lives is understated and memorable.' Canberra Times 'Cory Taylor's characters are magnificently created.' Weekend Australian 'Me and Mr Booker is pitched as a coming-of-age novel, but this implies a simpler narrative than Taylor has achieved. Martha is a memorable creation and an assured debut.' Sydney Morning Herald 'Restrained, surprisingly moving and compulsively readable, Cory Taylor's debut novel is nuanced and touching portrait of a doomed relationship.' Sun Herald

'Black humour is cunningly tangled with moments of sheer emotional devastation; Taylor crafts sentences of such sharpness and insight that I was forced to pause at moments to bask in the prose. My Beautiful Enemy is a heartfelt and beautifully written novel about love and war for readers of exquisitely crafted literary fiction.' Australian Bookseller and Publisher 'An almost unbearably beautiful story about longing and secret lives in which grief and joy turn out to be much the same thing.' -- Robert Dessaix 'Longing, desire, fear, confusion and self-delusion are all expressed with finesse and subtlety in a distinctive, memorable voice and assured, elegant prose.' -- Caroline Baum, Booktopia 'This is a beautifully told story of love, longing and the war within.' -- The Hoopla 'Reminiscent of a Kazuo Ishiguro novel...a love story that is tender and original.' Readings Monthly 'Cory Taylor's novel is a haunting tale told with plangent simplicity...There is a wistful beauty to the book that can make the heart ache even as the mind is deploring the emotional carnage.' Adelaide Advertiser

'Black humour is cunningly tangled with moments of sheer emotional devastation; Taylor crafts sentences of such sharpness and insight that I was forced to pause at moments to bask in the prose. My Beautiful Enemy is a heartfelt and beautifully written novel about love and war for readers of exquisitely crafted literary fiction.' Australian Bookseller and Publisher 'Hands down,A Me and Mr BookerA is one of theA bestA coming-of-age novels I've ever read.A In it,A Cory Taylor has given us an irresistable,A whip-smart heroine who thinks and speaks like the 16-year-old you wish you'd been.A It's a compulsive read too: I devoured this novel in two sittings, only stopping because I needed to pace myself.A Me and Mr BookerA is sexy, smart and brutally funny, and reminds us that whileA teenagers grow up fast, it's only because they're surrounded by adults who behave like children.' -- Benjamin Law on Me and Mr Booker 'Cory Taylor's Me and Mr BookerA has the heart of LolitaA and the soulA of Catcher In The Rye, this is one of the most assured debut novels I have ever read.A These characters feel so real that they become almost family. Refreshing, surprising, sexy and ultimately very moving.' -- Krissy Kneen on Me and Mr Booker 'Taylor's take on the oft-explored rite of passage from sweet, open-eyed childhood into the dark sexually charged realms of adolescent turmoil is distinctive, disturbing and refreshed by the limitless aptitude of middle-aged men for acting like spoilt teenagers. A vibrant, questioning and unpredictable read.' -- West Australian on Me and Mr Booker 'Me and Mr BookerA is sharply observed and blackly comic, but it is also a tender depiction of love, sex, power and one girl's heartbreaking step into adulthood.' -- Australian Bookseller + Publisher on Me and Mr Booker 'Controlled and elegant.' -- David Vann on Me and Mr Booker 'Vividly cinematic...Taylor's vivid evocation of lowered expectations and empty lives is understated and memorable.' -- Canberra Times on Me and Mr Booker 'Cory Taylor's characters are magnificently created.' -- Weekend Australian on Me and Mr Booker 'Me and Mr BookerA is pitched as a coming-of-age novel, but this implies a simpler narrative than Taylor has achieved. Martha is a memorable creation and an assured debut.' -- Sydney Morning Herald on Me and Mr Booker 'Restrained, surprisingly moving and compulsively readable, Cory Taylor's debut novel is nuanced and touching portrait of a doomed relationship.' -- Sun Herald on Me and Mr Booker

'Black humour is cunningly tangled with moments of sheer emotional devastation; Taylor crafts sentences of such sharpness and insight that I was forced to pause at moments to bask in the prose. My Beautiful Enemy is a heartfelt and beautifully written novel about love and war for readers of exquisitely crafted literary fiction.' Australian Bookseller and Publisher 'An almost unbearably beautiful story about longing and secret lives in which grief and joy turn out to be much the same thing.' -- Robert Dessaix

'Longing, desire, fear, confusion and self-delusion are all expressed with finesse and subtlety in a distinctive, memorable voice and assured, elegant prose.' -- Caroline Baum, Booktopia 'Taylor's second novel beautifully explores private lives and battles. As sad as it often is, she draws you compulsively towards an elegiac conclusion.' * MX * 'Cory Taylor's novel is a haunting tale told with plangent simplicity...There is a wistful beauty to the book that can make the heart ache even as the mind is deploring the emotional carnage.' * Adelaide Advertiser * 'Reminiscent of a Kazuo Ishiguro novel...a love story that is tender and original.' * Readings Monthly * 'This is a beautifully told story of love, longing and the war within.' -- The Hoopla 'Taylor has crafted her novel superbly. The pace is measured, and the restraint, particularly in the later stages of the book, lends My Beautiful Enemy its emotional punch...A moving and accomplished novel that explores fascinating untold lives from our past.' * Sydney Morning Herald/Age/Canberra Times * 'Black humour is cunningly tangled with moments of sheer emotional devastation; Taylor crafts sentences of such sharpness and insight that I was forced to pause at moments to bask in the prose. My Beautiful Enemy is a heartfelt and beautifully written novel about love and war for readers of exquisitely crafted literary fiction.' * Australian Bookseller and Publisher * 'An almost unbearably beautiful story about longing and secret lives in which grief and joy turn out to be much the same thing.' -- Robert Dessaix

Author Information

Cory Taylor was born in Queensland in 1955. She was an award-winning novelist and screenwriter who also published short fiction and children’s books. Her first novel, Me and Mr Booker, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Pacific Region) in 2012 and her second novel, My Beautiful Enemy, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2014. She died on 5 July 2016, just months after Dying: A Memoir was published.

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