Plot introduction

In Luke Davies' Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, the unnamed narrator falls in love with Candy, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle... and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.

Plot summary

Candy meets the narrator and initially things flourish for them; they have no problem getting their hand on drugs. Eventually, however, they begin to lose money. Desperately, the narrator becomes a con artist and Candy turns to prostitution. They repeatedly try to stop using drugs, but can never succeed. Ultimately, they part ways.

Awards and nominations

• Shortlisted, Christina Stead
  Christina Stead
  Christina Stead was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations.-Biography:...
  
   Prize for fiction, New South Wales Premer's Literary Awards 1999
• Joint Winner, Best Young Australian Novelist, The Sydney Morning Herald
  The Sydney Morning Herald
  The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
  
  1998
• Shortlisted, Addison Wesley Longman Award for the Best Cover/Jacket D

Film adaptation

In 2006, the film adaptation

Film adaptation

Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...

, also called Candy

Candy (2006 film)

Candy is a 2006 Australian romantic drama film, adapted from Luke Davies's novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction. Candy was directed by debut film-maker Neil Armfield and stars Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush....

, was released. The film stars Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger

Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

 as Dan, Abbie Cornish

Abbie Cornish

Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress. She is well known in Australia for a number of film and television roles, particularly her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault, and internationally for her role as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star and her appearance as Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch.-...

 as Candy, Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...

 as Casper, Noni Hazlehurst as Mrs. Wyatt and Tony Martin

Tony Martin (actor)

Tony Martin is an Australian actor. He married Rachael Blake on 21 December 2003. His son, Justin, is also an actor, with appearances in Somersault and Blue Water High to his credit....

 as Mr. Wyatt. It was directed by Neil Armfield

Neil Armfield

Neil Geoffrey Armfield AO is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera.Born in Sydney, Armfield was the youngest of three boys. The son of a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's biscuit factory he was brought up in the suburb of Concord adjacent to Exile Bay...

 and produced by Emile Sherman and Margaret Fink

Margaret Fink

Margaret Fink is a prominent Australian film producer noted for her important role in the revival of Australian cinema in the 1970s....

.

Release details

• 1997, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
• 1998, USE, Ballantine Books ISBN 0345423879, Pub date 16 June 1998, Softcover
• 1998, Vintage Books, Random House, UK

Also published in Spain (Editions Planeta), Greece, France (Editions Heloise d'Ormesson), Israel, Germany (Droemer-Knaur).
The subtitle "A Novel of Love and Addiction" was only used in the American edition; elsewhere the book is only called Candy. There is an essential difference between the American edition and all others, too: in the US edition, the opening chapter "Example of Good Times" runs for only a page, then the chapter repeats and continues as the final chapter in the book. Davies has stated publicly he regrets agreeing to this change, and that the Australian edition should be taken as the definitive one.

Sources

• http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781741148688