Forty Fathoms Deep
{{Short description|Book by Ion Idriess}}
{{Infobox book|
| name = Forty Fathoms Deep
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = File:FortyFathomsDeepIdriess.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Ion Idriess
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = Edgar A. Galloway
| country = Australia
| language = English
| series =
| genre =
| publisher = Angus and Robertson
| release_date = 1937
| english_release_date =
| media_type =
| pages = 343 pp
| isbn =
| preceded_by = The Cattle King
| followed_by = Over the Range
}}
Forty Fathoms Deep: Pearldivers and Searovers in Australian Waters is a 1937 book from Ion Idriess about pearl divers.[http://www.idriess.info/#!titles3/cwy8 Book information] at Ion Idriess fan page[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/legacy/programs/radioeye/documents/idriess.pdf Interview with Ion Idriess", ABC]
It featured characters like Old Con, a British West Indian who lived in Broome.{{cite interview |last=Robinson |first=Lee |interviewer=Graham Shirley |title= Lee Robinson |type=Oral history |date=15 August 1976 |publisher=National Film and Sound Archive|url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=lee%20robinson%20graham%20shirley;rec=4;resCount=10}}
Critical reception
A reviewer in The Canberra Times noted this as a"unique book": "Mr. Idriess reveals to the reader the technique of pearling with him, the reader boards the lugger for the pearling grounds, makes the acquaintance of skipper and crew, dons the diving dress and descends to the sea floor, sees the wonders of a new and beautiful, fascinating and frightful world, shares the divers' dangers, gathers the shell, opens it on the lugger, thrills at the sight of baroque and pearls, sells them to the dealer and watches as the rough pearl is transformed by delicate and skilful hands into a thing of exquisite loveliness"{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2421761 |title=ION IDRIESS |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=11 |issue=2918 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=22 January 1937 |accessdate=26 March 2016 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In The Sydney Morning Herald the reviewer found a novel trying to cover a lot of ground: "But if his book seems to meander a little, and sometimes lose its way, there can be scarcely a doubt about the sheer power, and often beauty, of certain chapters and passages. Qualities of Mr. Idriess's, such as his extraordinary thoroughness in inquiry, his determination to master every branch of a subject, his almost microscopic accuracy of observation, and his almost poetic gift of natural description-not to speak of narrative power often seen in harmonious combination with this cannot be too often insisted upon as positive and peculiar merits."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17303816 |title=CURRENT LITERATURE |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=30,925 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=13 February 1937 |accessdate=26 March 2016 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Ion Idriess}}
Category:1937 Australian novels
Category:Novels by Ion Idriess
Category:Angus & Robertson books
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