Description: Fredy Neptune is as charming as it is profound. Fredy Neptune, a young Australian with German heritage and bad luck, is conscripted into the army during the turmoil of the early part of this century. In North Africa, he contracts leprosy and is forced to dodge both doctors who want to put him in sanatoriums and army officers who want to put him in prison. All Fredy wants is to go home to his family, but fate keeps intervening. As the visible signs of his leprosy vanish, leaving him numb, Fredy discovers that his illness has mysteriously left him with superhuman strength and endurance. Fredy is repeatedly made a victim of politics -- of Communism and Nazism, of prejudices of race, religion, and nationality -- and of his own body's unwilling reactions to violence. Les Murray's crackling, immensely satisfying language makes Fredy Neptune a delightful addition to his already remarkable body of work.

Please Wait