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Gould's Book of Fish

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Gould's Book of Fish

By: Richard Flanagan
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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About this listen

  • Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 2002.
  • Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2002.
  • Winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 2002.

Once upon a time that was called 1828, before all the living things on the land and the fishes in the sea were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould, a convict in Van Dieman's Land who fell in love with a black woman and discovered too late that to love is not safe. Silly Billy Gould, invader of Australia, liar, murderer, forger, fantasist, was condemned to live in the most brutal penal colony in the British Empire, and there ordered to paint a book of fish. Once upon a time, miraculous things happened....

©2002 Richard Flanagan (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction

Critic Reviews

"Flanagan's fact-based fiction is a miraculously vulgar and sensationally evocative listen. The story of Billy Gould, a convict who has been sent to Van Dieman's Land, a Tasmanian penal colony, in 1828, reveals in graphic detail both the essence of inhumanity and bizarre acts of humanity. This vivid description of prison life combined with the story's surrealistic miracles could be a life-changing experience for the listener. Taking his cue from the enormous imagination of the author, Humphrey Bower catches the excessive vitality of Gould. Sometimes the manic pace of his narration overwhelms the novel's quieter moments, but the convict himself would probably not be disturbed. Prepare yourself to be drawn in, tossed about, horrified, and totally dazzled." ( AudioFile magazine)
All stars
Most relevant  
Loved every moment. So well narrated that felt I was with Gould in his watery cell.

Such a brilliant story so well narrated.

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This book is an incredible act of creation. An alternative world through the narrative of a man whose relationship to what we regard as reality is unlike any other I have encountered. In this telling, reality is mutable as an act of creation of a future and as an transformation of a past. Whilst I at times marvelled at the use of certain words, the rich vocabulary and the amusing and incisive turns of phrase, this is also a book in which to immerse or closely study.

The audio presentation is fabulous, with well-presented different voices and accents giving greater depth to the author's often wondrous if deliberately somewhat two-dimensional characters. In this, the strength of the audiobook format is superbly served.

Rich imaginative world

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This is talented writing and a clever story woven. Enjoyed this book immensely and inspired me to find everything this author his written to read.

Totally Engaging

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As a reader, the greatest measure of a book is how you feel when you finish reading it. I feel blessed.

A deeply satisfying marvel

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Flanagan never disappoints. weaves fact and fiction and fantasy. magical. master at work loved looking over his shoulder

fabulous entertainment

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Loved it until the end. Rather trite and clichéd conclusion to what had been and enjoyable read. Great characters.

A fun, and perhaps true, interpretation of a life.

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Richard Flanagan’s Gould shares the awe and adoration I have had for Europe’s master painters, writers, philosophers, and above all (for me) composers and musicians. European science, commerce and moral sensibilities seemed obviously the epitome of human civilisation, such that it blinded me to what lay hidden behind the re-written Aboriginal history I learned as an Australian, along with the present day abuses of First Nations people and the contortions about those abuses. But Aboriginal culture seemed a distraction from the discomfort of the European anomaly: the yawning abyss between ourselves (post The Enlightenment no less) and our present environment, to who’s eucalyptus we may incongruously be humming Chopin. But Chopin feels like home. And as we zoom out from ourselves to our country, our planet, our universe, the separation between us becomes no less a nonsensical, knowledge-based veil. Richard’s Gould, through Humphrey Bower’s extraordinary rendering of him, with heart-felt thanks and a long standing ovation, dissolves the devices, the entire veil, with an endearing click, clack, ratta tat tat. A great freedom, love, and connection inevitably ensues.

Richard Flanagan’s masterpiece brings us closer to reality than we’ve ever been.

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An odd meandering story with laugh out loud moments, well read and inspired by colonial Tasmania.

Humorous novel

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.