The Well Dressed Explorer (1962) is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley.

noted: "The book is the portrait of one of the most unforgettable characters in Australian fiction, George Brewster.

And concluded: "For all the surface brilliance of the prose, for all the psychological validity of the portrait, one feels that this is only another slice of life and hasn't one the right to demand from the novelist some assessment of the significance of her creation?

"[4] Lisa Hill on the ANZLitLovers Litblog commented: "The extensive use of complex metaphor can be taxing sometimes, but is offset by her wit; her passion for exposing petty corruption, injustice and human stupidity; and her brilliant observations of people at their most banal.

All these are superbly in evidence in her third novel The Well-dressed Explorer, but if you don’t like to have your brain circuits stretched by imagery used in new and challenging ways; if you’re put off by lush poetic descriptions or if you just like a what-happened-next kind of a story, then Thea Astley may not be for you.