Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Two Australian families' lives are intertwined due to circumstance.  The Pickles are a haphazard crew.  The dad is a gambler, poor when his luck is bad and rich when it's good.  The mother is a former beauty who drinks and parties and pretty much ignores the two children.  They inherit a huge house in Perth called Cloudstreet which they are forbidden to sell for twenty years.  Since Pickle is unemployed at times, it's good they have a place they can't be thrown out of, but the house is too big for them.  So they hit on the idea of renting half of it out.

The Lamb family are the renters.  They are the opposite of the Pickles.  Both father and mother are industrious, religious and love their large brood of children.  They quickly hit upon the idea of opening a store as there isn't one in their neighborhood.  The children all help; except for Fish.  Fish was a child everyone loved and was everyone's favorite.  While on a family outing, Fish has an incident and is almost drowned.  The accident leaves him with mental disabilities; he will never grow up.  The family rallies round and takes care of him.

The two families rub along together over the years.  Winton has them face various emergencies and difficulties and shows the reader how each family handles such events.  Throughout the years, the families are never close but co-exist peacefully.  When disaster strikes, the two families learn to help each other out.

This epic novel is considered one of the great novels of Australian literature. It won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award, which is Australia's top literary award.  The deft outlining of the various characters and the slow recognition of the change in Australia from a rural country to one more focused on the cities is entertaining and informative.  Each reader will have a favorite character to follow over the years.  This book is recommended for literary readers.