Bitters End

by David Owen

Shattered by the bizarre death of his fiancée, Raoul abandons civilization and drives inland. Forced by a compulsion beyond grief, he is drawn into the harsh country, an unfamiliar, sun-scorched world of vast space and very few people. He settles at Hurrah, a dilapitdated property surrounded by five hundred acres of wasted stubble and nothingness, a dead, parched hell on earth. There he retreats into loneliness, the isolation and hardship of his life cocooning him from the demands of memory and time.
Until one day out of the endless haze of the horizon walks Julia, mysterious, beautiful, escaping from her own secret torment….

Bitters End is a haunting, mesmerizing novel about love and loss.

261 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

David Owen was born in Zimbabwe in 1956 and grew up in Malawi and Swaziland. He completed his education in South Africa and then spent some years working in London. He migrated to Australia in 1986. A past editor of Island magazine, he writes fiction and nonfiction. He is now settled in Tasmania.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a novel that demands a second read. The ending is abrupt, incomplete, yet satisfyingly mysterious. What actually happened? What was real, what wasn’t? It’s up to the reader to decide.

The writing is nothing short of stunning – it’s impossible not to feel the heat, the desolation, the compounding grief of this man... his pain is all around, in the words, between them, layered.

[David Gagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of love & obsession set in an isolated farmhouse in harsh country, on a property called Hurrah. Here Raoul tries to start again after the tragic death of his fiancée. When Julia appears, it is not clear exactly what is real and what is being imagined. A fascinating story that is quite unsettling.