He studied creative writing at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, but his down-to-earth hobbies-sports and recreational surfing, fishing, camping, and “hanging out” in the old whaling port of Albany-gave him an inexhaustible supply of anecdotes that appealed initially to teenage readers. Winton had decided by age 10 to be a writer. Tim Winton, in full Timothy John Winton, (born August 4, 1960, Perth, Australia), Australian author of both adult and children’s novels that evoke both the experience of life in and the landscape of his native country. Both families are often betrayed by their faith. The Lambs' God is a maker of miracles the Pickles' God is the 'Shifty Shadow' of fate. The Lambs find meaning in industry and in God's grace the Pickles, in luck. The Lambs are righteous, God-fearing, hard working and parsimonious while the Pickles are licentious wastrels. The two families are a study in contrasts, 'squared off at one another like opposing platoons'. Although Fish loses his mental faculties as a result of his accident and is unable to communicate with the outside world, his near-drowning and subsequent bond with water also lead him to a new life as a visionary, and it is this fish who is the omniscient narrator of the novel. Sam Pickles's move to the city brings him a home of his own and a job at the mint - a stroke of poetic justice for a man addicted to gambling. These mishaps mean that both 'Sams' - like the biblical Samson - lose some of their strengths, but they also gain new opportunities and insights.

For the Lambs, this misfortune takes the form of the near-drowning of the family favourite, Samson, better known as Fish for the Pickles, it occurs in the loss of father Sam's fingers in a fishing accident. The book follows the two families from the time they leave their rural homes and move into Cloudstreet, a big, old house in Perth. Winner of the Miles Franklin and NBC Awards in Australia, Cloudstreet is a celebration of people, places and rhythms which has fuelled imaginations world-wide. Tim Winton's funny, sprawling saga is an epic novel of love and acceptance.

For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts. From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. Cloudstreet is a book about finding one's place in the world and the search for meaning in life.

Tim winton cloud street