'It took William Badger some time to understand that he was going to be left behind, deliberately abandoned, what seemed like a thousand miles from home. His mother had simply asked if he would like a nice seaside holiday, and he had said yes.' 'totally convincing and enjoyable ... [Adams] can sketch characters in a dialogue or two, extract entertainment from ordinary situations, and she captures the mood of suburban Australia.' Sunday times 'It took William Badger some time to understand that he was going to be left behind, deliberately abandoned, what seemed like a thousand miles from home. His mother had simply asked if he would like a nice seaside holiday, and he had said yes.' When William Badger is ten years old his mother Rose takes him to a boarding house in Manly - Seven Miles from Sydney, and a thousand Miles from Care. Left there, abandoned by the glorious Rose, who once danced and twirled on her little pointy shoes, William sits in the hedge and waits for her return. But the Rose he longs for never returns; the mother who comes back is much too angry to twirl. the only clue William has to this bewildering change is the name on a document he sees in the dining room sideboard: Longleg, the perfect name for an imaginary friend, or an alter ego... In this imaginative tour de force, Miles Franklin award winner Glenda Adams explores with tenderness and grace the life of a man who seems destined to find his mother in all other women. Winner of the National Book Council Banjo Award. Winner of the Age Fiction Book of the Year Award. 'A wise and gentle story of a boy growing up and discovering himself and the world. Adams makes the ordinary extraordinary, and her affection for her characters shines out.' the Australian