The earthiness of Tim Winton’s homegrown language and storytelling has its share of critics, but also plenty of fans – enough to sustain 40 years or so of professional writing. His works are a feast of strange words and characters. There is a lot to admire, and a few butterfly wings to pick off if you like that kind of thing.
Winton wrote about axes in one of his early short stories: My Father’s Axe, from the 1985 collection Scission. The axe is symbolic of the relationship between the young protagonist, who wields the axe, and his absent father:
