This is a family saga rooted in the Australian outback, and covering three generations of a sheep farming family. The novel starts in 1958 and, like a lot of family sagas, it starts with a disaster (and this novel has plenty of them) and then deals with the aftermath leading, eventually, to some sort of conclusion in modern days. However, there is a lot of death and injury in the first sixty pages and not much to cheer.

The sheep don’t do so well either, what with just about surviving on poor quality grassland, being castrated, and left to starve if there’s a heat wave. Then there are the mining companies who want the land and, even worse, they are digging up asbestos. It’s a hard life for everyone.

I suppose the point of the book is that this is the making of the modern Australian family, which has been a struggle against the odds, producing hard men and determined women who are poor at expressing themselves, inclined not to value emotions and like to keep secrets as they just about get by.

In that sense, the book is a kind of celebration. It’s also nicely written and the story moves along at pace. I like the fact that it’s a modern saga rather than based in Wikipedia history! By the end, you will know quite a lot about sheep stations and sheep farming and something about why Australian fast bowlers seem to bowl more viciously than their English counterparts! If you like family sagas, it’s a good one.