At a suburban barbecue one afternoon, a man slaps an unruly three-year-old boy. The boy is not his son. Christos Tsiolkas records what happens next.
It is a single act of violence, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it. In his remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas presents the impact of this apparently minor domestic incident through the eyes of eight characters. The result is an unflinching interrogation of the modern family, a deeply thought-provoking novel of boundaries and their limits.
Christos Tsiolkas
About the Author
Christos Tsiolkas has personal experience of the far-reaching impact of a slap. When he was 18 and about to go to university, his uncle slapped him ‘somewhere between affection and a warning’ so as not to forget where he came from.