Stanley's Aquarium

Barry Faville writes with assurance and humour, vividly evoking his New Zealand setting and creating an intelligent and likeable first-person narrator. Robbie takes a gardening job for elderly Stanley, finding him at first fascinating and later repellant; when she finds out what he keeps in his aquarium and what he plans to do with them, the book takes on a thrillerish twist without losing its sharp insight into character and relationships. Unusual and compelling.