BOOKS . . . "A RIVER TOWN

" The hero of Australian writer Thomas Keneally's new novel (Doubleday; 324 pages; $24) is Tim Shea, a young Irish immigrant in turn of the century Australia. Shea is a good, intelligent man and well-liked. But he is also thought to be dangerously political and no great supporter of the British Empire. He has other troubles as well. He is half a day's receipts away from bankruptcy, is supporting a load of relatives and is too soft to press customers for repayment. TIME book criticJohn Skowsays Keneally, author of "Schindler's List" and "A Victim of the Aurora," is "a builder, a gifted, painstaking maker of books."