THE SLAP

"All the characters in The Slap are touchy, and that seems to be part of Tsiolkas''s point – in the Australia of the 21st century, multiculturalism has won. People of all ages, all ethnic groups and all political persuasions are interconnected and intermarried, and, at least some of the time, they just can''t handle it. The Slap, which was first published in Australia in 2008 and has since won the Commonwealth prize, is a "way we live now" novel, and it is riveting from beginning to end." (Jane Smiley,The Guardian, Saturday 8 May 2010)