Peter Carey is a tale-spinner of the very first order, fit to be in company with Dickens. The plot of this marvelous book is inventive and constantly surprising, making it a page turner from first to last.
The two title characters, Oscar and Lucinda, are misfits even in Australia, a country comprised of unconventional people. He is an Anglican priest who still harbors the beliefs of his devout Brethren father. She is a teenage heiress with feminist views who owns a glassworks. They come together through their mutual fascination with gambling, fall in love with each other without ever quite admitting it out loud, and eventually make a mad wager leading to an expedition to transport a glass church across the uncharted Outback.
In addition to telling a delicious story, Carey gives us the details of life and attitudes in 19th Century Australia. All the characters, even the minor ones, are so convincingly portrayed, with all their quirks and foibles, that they seem to be people you once knew. The writing is not pretentious or showy, but it is oh so effective.
This novel won England's Booker Prize in 1988. I recommend it highly.
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