Theft

So begins Peter Carey�s highly charged and lewdly funny new novel. Told by the twin voices of the artist Butcher Bones and his �damaged 220-pound brother� Hugh, it recounts their adventures and troubles after Butcher�s plummeting prices and spiralling drink problem force them to retreat to northern New South Wales. Here the formerly famous artist is reduced to being a caretaker for his biggest collector, and the nurse for his erratic brother. Then the mysterious Marlene turns up one stormy night, clad in a pair of Manolo Blahniks. Claiming that the brothers� friend and neighbour owns an original Jacques Liebovitz, she soon sets in motion a chain of events that could be the making or ruin of them all.