"She held the needle to the light. It was a wonder how something sharp came down to nothing like that. She looked through the needles eye. So thats the Kingdom of Heaven, she thought. So thats all there was."
Timothy John Winton is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Franklin Award four times.
"I suspect that God is what you do, not what or who you believe in. When you do right, Jaxie, when you make good - well, then you are an instrument of God. Then you are joined to the divine, to the life force, to life itself. Thats what I believe. Thats what I hope for. And its what I have missed. Think of it this way. When somebody does me a kindness, it enlarges me, adds to my life, you see? And not only mine - it adds to all life."
Tim Winton"Still you cant keep doing the coulda and the woulda and the shoulda. And if theres one thing I know its this. Doesnt matter how smart you are, or even how careful or lucky, theres some mistakes you just keep making over and over."
Tim Winton"Sometimes she couldnt think what jerrybuilt frame was holding her together. It wasnt willpower anymore. Shed gone past that lately. She only had will enough to make everything else work, these days. There was never enough left for her. She was like that blessed truck of Lesters, running on an empty sump."
Tim Winton"There was always a manic energy about Loonie, some strange hotwired spirit that made you laugh with shock. He hurled himself at the world. You could never second-guess him and once he embarked upon something there was no holding him back. Yet the same stuff you marvelled at could really wear you down. Some Mondays I was relieved to be back on the bus to school."
Tim Winton"Sam followed [his father], loved him, listened to him talk. He believed deeply in luck, the old man, though he was careful never to say the word. He called it the shifty shadow of God. All his life he paid close attention to the movements of that shadow. He taught Sam to see it passing, feel it hovering, because he said it was those shifts that governed a mans life and it always paid to be ahead of the play. If the chill of its shade felt good, you went out to meet it like a droughted farmer goes out, arms wide, to greet the raincloud, but if you got that sick, queer feeling in your belly, you had to stay put and do nothing but breathe and there was a good chance it would pass you by. It was as though luck made choices, that it could think. If you greeted it, it came to you; if you shunned it, it backed away."
Tim Winton"It seemed that these were Joneses who didnt need much keeping up with."
Tim Winton