The first novel of Tasman's man of letters, Flanagan, which has, as its narrator, a river guide in the last moments of his life at the bottom of the Franklin River. No simple tale of adventure gone wrong, Flanagan conjures the ancestors of his guide, evoking the complex, tangled history of Tasmania and its original colonial settlement by convicts. Like many Tasmanians, Flanagan's memorable guide is of English, Slovenian and Aboriginal descent.  (AUS125, $13.00)