board, which rises behind him like a tombstone, at the end of the novel she cannot help, in spite of grief, to see that life goes on in all its power, exhilaration and tragedy. Some readers identify a link between Jim and Imogen and Adam and Eve, with the estuary as the garden of Eden. This subtle parallel is used by Malouf to explore the key theme of innocence and experience. The idyllic "eden" of the estuary contrasts boldly with the hellish trenches. The novel consists of dualities: war and peace, life and death, innocence and experience, wealth and poverty, natural and man-made. However, these binaries are tinged with ambiguity. While the 'sanctuary' is idyllic, it is in this time and place of 'innocence' that Jim saw his brother killed on the farm, and had to live with the venomous and destructive despair of his father. Conversely, in the trenches, friendship is rich and the bird life is miraculous. Malouf was regarded as a poet before he wrote novels, and much of his writing in this novel is poetic. Malouf himself describes it as a novel which explores ideas (such as the meaning or purpose of life) rather than story. Opera adaptation Fly Away Peter has been adapted as an opera by Elliott Gyger and Pierce Wilcox. The opera's first performance was in Sydney in May 2015, by the Sydney Chamber Opera. Awards and nominations Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, 1983: joint winner with Malouf's short story collection Child's Play The Age Book of the Year Award, Imaginative Writing Prize, 1982: winner The Age Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year, 1982: winner References 1982 Australian novels Novels by David Malouf Novels set during World War I Novels set in Queensland Chatto & Windus books George Braziller books Novels set in Brisbane