Oscar and Lucinda

Peter Carey's Booker Prize winning novel is a delight to read. Set partly in Victorian England, partly in Australia, the novel tells the story of two disparate characters united by their love of gambling. The gambling scenes are some of the best written sections of this book. I quite like a flutter myself, and I really felt for Lucinda, who is a compulsive gambler, the "buzz" of gambling was so well communicated - as were the risks inherent in it.

The rawness of Victorian Australia is also well described with savagery never far from the surface.

The only complaint I have about the novel is that the ending was wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly, and so felt rather unsatisfactory.