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In turn-of-the-century Australia, Tim Shea supports his young family by running a general store in a remote riverside town, where he finds the same hypocrisy and snobbery which made him emigrate from Ireland, and suffers a series of misfortunes which take him to the brink of disaster. Capturing the spirit of the times, this is the mesmerising tale of a flawed hero whose stubborn integrity is nearly his undoing.
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Reviews
The work of a great storyteller
A joy to read . . . His skilful prose which seems effortlessly to capture the rhythms and cadences of at least six different emigrant races . . . his essential humanity which enables him to examine misery and horror without ever losing his gift for hope and his old-fashioned insistence on a rattling good plot, crammed full of drama, will ensure the reader is thoroughly entertained
Keneally makes us feel, very movingly, the intelligence and imaginative openness that lie deeper than Tim's prejudices and inarticulacies . . . a novel [of] great vitality and charm
A remarkably vivid and moving portrayal of a hostile world where good struggles to shine through
A masterpiece
A great read