Quick, meanwhile, feels responsible for Fish’s condition, having been present at the incident. From that point on, Fish suffers brain damage and can only muster the intelligence and personality of a much younger child. Though Fish begins the book as the liveliest member of the Lamb family, he dies after drowning before being brought back to life by Oriel in an event the Lambs all consider a miracle. The book also focuses on the close but fraught relationship between two of the Lamb brothers, Fish and Quick. She is instrumental in helping to hold the family unit together. Rose Pickle is bright, sensible, and painfully aware of her parents’ faults. The reader also learns more about the children of the families. Not long into the book, Oriel moves into a tent in the backyard rather than sleep with her husband. As for Lester and Oriel, they have a close and productive working relationship but do not seem to be sexually attracted to one another anymore. Sam resents that he lost his hand in an accident and often squanders the Lambs’ rent on gambling. Despite the fact that Sam and Dolly are sexually attracted to one another, the alcoholic Dolly cheats on Sam with a pilot. The Pickles are quieter and there is much less closeness between the family members. The Lambs are loud yet pious and play as hard as they work. The two families are quite different in disposition. From these proceeds, the Lambs are able to pay the Pickles the rent. On the ground floor, the Lambs open a grocery store that becomes something of a neighborhood institution. Though the Pickles own the house, they rent half of the building to the Lambs. Their family has fled their coastal home in Margaret River, located to the south of Perth. They have six children: Hattie, Elaine, Mason, Samson (nicknamed “Fish”), Red (nicknamed “Quick”), and Lon. The Lambs, meanwhile, are led by father, Lester, and mother, Oriel. They have three children: Ted, Rose, and Chub. The Pickles are led by father, Sam, and mother, Dolly.

In the first two chapters, the author introduces the two families. In 1943, the Pickle family and the Lamb family share a large rundown house in the city of Perth, located in Western Australia. In 1992, the book received the Miles Franklin Award, a literary honor bestowed annually in Australia. Set in Perth, Australia between 19, Australian writer Tim Winton’s novel Cloudstreet (1991) examines the working class struggles of two families, the Pickles and the Lambs.

Tim winton cloud street