The Big Country: Rough Living Vol 2 by Nevil Shute, & Evan Green
These twin volumes of four classics by outstanding novelists celebrate what Colleen McCullough has called "the living land", outback country that it is just possible to settle and farm, "fawn and blue and drear in the rain, but alive", and parched to dust in the Dry; a place where now legendary characters like Maggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart of The Thorn Birds meet and struggle with their destiny. The Shiralee takes a hard road through this country with a swagman named Macauley, a free man who carries an unusual burden, for his real swag is "the one with legs and a cabbage-tree-hat" - his little daughter. D'Arcy Niland's telling of their bittersweet journey is irresistible.
Volume Two explores the hardships of life in desert country, defined by Joe Harman in A Town Like Alice: "It's red around Alice and where I come from, red earth and then, the mountains are all red... I suppose everybody likes his own place. The country round about the Springs is my place. To me, it's beautiful." Another Nevil Shute character jokes about the "rough living" in the red centre - and this land of extremes is thrillingly explored in Evan Green's Alice to Nowhere, where two desperate men make the Birdsville Track a trait of terror, and a shy mailman runs into the adventure of his life.
Format: Hardback | 304 pages
Dimensions (cm): 23.5 x 16.1 x 2.3 | 642g
Publication Date: 2008
Publisher: Reader's Digest Australia
Publication City/Country: Ultimo, SYD, Australia
Language: English
Edition Number: 1
Edition Statement: 2 novels revised ed.
ISBN13: 9781921344831
Condition: Very Good
A book that does not look new and has been read but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the cover, with the dust jacket included and in a good condition (minor scuff marks along the edges). No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. Very minimal wear and tear.