The Kiss

Penguin Specials

‘We believed in the existence in this country of a vast reading public for intelligent books at a low price, and staked everything on it’
Sir Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books.

The first affordable quality books for a mass audience were brought out by Penguin nearly eighty years ago. And while much has changed since then, the way we read books is only now becoming different. Sometimes it is still only a hardback or paperback book that will do. But at other times we prefer to read on something either more portable – a dedicated reading device or our smart mobile phone – or more connected, such as a tablet or a computer.

Where we are or how much time we have often decides what it is we will read next.

Penguin Specials are designed to fill a gap. They are short, they are original and affordable, and they are written by some of today’s best and most exciting writers. And they are available only in digital form.

Written to be read over a long commute or a short journey, in your lunch hour or between dinner and bedtime, these brief books provide a short escape into a fictional world or act as a primer in a particular field or provide a new angle on an old subject.

Always informative and entertaining, Penguin Specials offer excellent writing that you can read on the move or in a spare moment for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

Contents

About the Author

The Kiss

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Goldsworthy grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin. After graduating in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1974, he worked for several years in alcohol and drug rehabilitation, but since then has divided his working time between general practice and writing. He has won major literary awards across a range of genres: poetry, short story, novels, theatre and opera libretti.

Goldsworthy’s novels have sold over 400,000 copies in Australia alone, and have been translated into European and Asian languages. His novels have three times been shortlisted for the NSW Christina Stead Fiction Prize, and twice for the Miles Franklin Award. Three Dog Night won the 2004 FAW Christina Stead Award, and was longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC prize. In 2003, his first novel, Maestro, was voted by members of the Australian Society of Authors as one of the Top 40 Australian books of all time. Five of his novels are currently being adapted for the screen, and two more – Wish and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam – for the stage. His most recent novel, Everything I Knew, published in 2008, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Fiction Prize. A new collection of short stories, Gravel, was published in 2010.

The Kiss

The thunder is closer now, almost seismic, as much inside the car as outside.

‘Just made it,’ Kenny says. He noses the dusty Mercedes in among the pillars that support the house, and switches off the ignition and lights. Utter darkness.