Luca Antara: Passages in Search of Australia

Combining memoir, travelogue, history, and detective story, Luca Antara is a rich tapestry of history and the present. It parallels the life of the author, an émigré to Sydney; and the life of an historical figure, António da Nova, the servant of a Portuguese explorer who in the 1600s sent da Nova to find out more about Luca Antara—now Australia. New to Sydney, Martin Edmond finds himself impoverished and displaced. He earns money as a taxi driver but spends his spare time frequenting secondhand bookshops trying to learn more about the history of Australia and the wider region. The people Edmond encounters in his taxi and in his search for rare books are varied and strange, offering the reader a voyeuristic glimpse into Sydney's subculture. Edmond's reading centers upon da Nova, but each book he reads leads to another and the subject becomes broader and increasingly fascinating. Sent to discover more about Luca Antara, António da Nova's crew mutiny and dump him on the West Australian coast. He is found by Aborigines, who take him on an epic walk across northern Australia. Eventually he manages to return to his master in Portugal who awaits news of his explorations. The lives of the two men and the strange customs and unique social mores of each man's culture and time intertwine throughout the book, ending with Edmond literally walking in the footsteps of da Nova across northern Australia.