Parrot and Olivier in America

Inspired by the life of French diplomat and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, Australian author Peter Carey’s historical novel Parrot and Olivier in America (2010) follows Olivier de Garmont and his secretary, Parrot, as they come to eighteenth-century America to explore the nation's penal system. With Olivier the product of the French elite, and Parrot coming from a poverty-stricken background, the story illuminates the social divides between the two men as they each set off to find their fate on American shores. Parrot and Olivier in America was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize.

As the novel opens, Olivier recalls his childhood. Born to members of the French aristocracy, Olivier grows up a strange, unhealthy, and eternally curious boy. Meanwhile, Parrot grows up in working-class England, where his father works for a printer, and Parrot spends his days taking care of Watkins, an elderly engraver and counterfeiter.

One day, the printing house burns down, and Parrot sees a chance to escape. He eventually meets Olivier through a mutual friend of Olivier's mother. This friend—Tilbot—suggests that, because there are rumors that Olivier is a spy, Olivier and Parrot should flee to America together. Olivier can employ Parrot to be his private secretary, and the two can travel under the guise of exploring the nation's prison system. When Parrot's wife, the artist Mathilde, learns of this, she is furious, even though Parrot wants to take her with them.



Olivier and Parrot board the ship for America, and Tilbot bribes the ship's captain to bring Mathilde and her mother along as well. During the crossing, Olivier meets wealthy American financier Mr. Peek. He asks Mathilde to paint Mr. Peek's portrait, which prompts anger from Parrot, who now despises his new boss.

The ship docks in America. There, Olivier learns that the Comtesse de Garmont, Olivier's mother, made Parrot a cosigner on the money she set aside for her son; so, without Parrot, Olivier cannot claim his money. Parrot soon quits after making up with Mathilde.

The police arrest Parrot after Olivier shoots a man. Olivier posts bail for Parrot, which prompts Parrot to remember when he first met Tilbot in England. Shortly after their initial meeting, the two had ventured to Australia together—until Tilbot abandoned Parrot on the way there.



Parrot returns to his position as Olivier's secretary. Mr. Peek invites them to his home, where Olivier meets Amelia Godefroy, with whom he falls in love.

Later, while touring a prison in Pennsylvania, Parrot discovers a book that contains one of his own engravings. This again inspires a reminiscence about Tilbot. Parrot tells Olivier of how Tilbot found him in Australia, persuaded him to leave his new wife and child, and compelled him to move to Paris to become an artist.

Parrot then goes to New York City on an errand for Olivier. He stops off at the boardinghouse where Mathilde and her mother are staying. However, there is no sign of the two women.



Olivier and Parrot go to Connecticut to pay a visit to the Godefroys. While they're there, they also take a tour of another local prison. It is during this journey that Olivier and Parrot first start to become friendly with one another.

With a new bond established between the two men, and with Olivier's feelings for Amelia deepening, Olivier grants Parrot a vacation. Parrot returns to New York, where he promptly looks for Mathilde. He finds her living with a man named Eckerd and consorting with a group of petty criminals—which, as luck would have it, includes Watkins. Parrot soon discovers that the group sets fire to houses so they can commit insurance fraud.

When Olivier calls Parrot back to Connecticut, Parrot is ready to leave behind the shady goings-on he unearthed on his return to New York. He soon starts a relationship with the printer in town, but it isn't enough to keep him around. Parrot wants to leave and start his own career, apart from Olivier, so he quits his job as secretary.



At first distraught over Parrot's departure, Olivier's spirits lift when Amelia says that it is finally time to officially ask her father's permission for her hand in marriage. Mr. Godefroy gives the couple his blessing.

Now a free agent, Parrot gets back in touch with Tilbot. He proposes starting a bookselling operation and asks Tilbot to help.

An Independence Day celebration sours Olivier on America, but he wants to stay because of his feelings for Amelia. When she suggests they marry in France, Olivier tells her father this isn't a possibility, because his family will never accept Amelia as a daughter-in-law. Amelia, eavesdropping, hears Olivier's confession and ends the engagement.



Back in New York City, Parrot establishes his own printing house. Olivier drops in and treats Parrot abominably, but Parrot forgives him because he knows Olivier is still heartbroken from the breakup with Amelia. Olivier tries to get Parrot to go back to France with him, but Parrot declines the offer, choosing to stay in the States with Mathilde, with whom he has reunited and is expecting a child. Again spurned by someone he cares about, Olivier returns to France.

After Olivier's departure, Parrot writes a history of their time together and dedicates the stories to his old friend.