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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
This compelling novel, set in Australia and Sudan, spans two generations from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, telling of two Australian sisters who explore their British roots. Thomas Keneally's vibrant characters and vigorous prose bring both eras alive, as he captures the timeless quests, passions and moral dilemmas that unite them. (Source: LibrariesAustralia)
Notes
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Dedication: To Rory Coverdale, fresh to Australia and the world.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
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A National (Diasporic?) Living Treasure : Thomas Keneally
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , November no. 14 2015; (p. 20-27) Although Thomas Keneally is firmly located as a national figure, his international literary career and his novels’ inspection of colonial exile, Aboriginal alienation, and movements of people throughout history reflect aspects of diasporic experience, while pushing the term itself into wider meaning of the transnational. -
Identity and Stigmatization Transferred
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 142-150) 'Keneally never forgets to weave his discussion of the Aboriginal issue into the Anglo search for identity in history, a problem which goes back as early as the beginning of white settlement of Australia. Convicts and the Admiralty soldiers, the earliest settlers on the land, come to Australian “stigmatized”. ' (142) -
The Sense of Guilt: Inherited and Imagined
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 106-118) 'Past crimes not only cripple, on the national scale, the imagination of early white settlers and therefore that of their descendants, but also penetrate the conscious being of the individual, in the form of ancestor heritage and personal memories. Though no less marked by the sense of guilt and by the interaction between past and present, the 95 latter is more personal and palpable in our concern of identity, and more allegorical and tangible in Keneally’s representations. ' (106) -
Reversed Nature, Dislocation, and Self-Commissioning
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 69-77) 'Different from the American Pilgrim Fathers, the early Europeans come to Australia without a dignified purpose. What’s worse, the Australian landscape defies their efforts to find a mission in local context. Everything here is different, alien and unaccountable, thwarting all attempts to subject it to European cognizance and interpretation. Even the most ardent scientist cannot find a proper mode of linguistic expression for the alien landscape, which leads to the disjunction between discourse and place. However, initial efforts are made by early settlers to find themselves a culturally and psychologically sustaining purpose. Self-commissioning takes such various forms as exploration, scientific studies and settlement, all of which are related, in a subtle but tenacious manner, to the British Empire and to their own past. Yet it is easy to put Australian on the map of the world, but it is difficult to subject the new world to the general scheme of the Empire. It simply refuses to be part of it. The wrestling with a troubled identity drives them to missionary activities in the land, which unfortunately further exacerbates the crisis rather than overcoming it, for in doing so, they forsake the sense of belonging “there”, only to find they can hardly belong “here”. ' (69-70) - y Ancestral Narratives: Irish-Australian Identities in History and Fiction Saarbrucken : VDM Verlag , 2008-2009 Z1664583 2008-2009 single work criticism
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A plenitude of story
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 226 2000; (p. 40)
— Review of Bettany's Book 2000 single work novel -
Big Tom
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , April vol. 11 no. 3 2001; (p. 40)
— Review of Bettany's Book 2000 single work novel -
Knot for the Faint-Hearted
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18 November 2000; (p. 13)
— Review of Bettany's Book 2000 single work novel -
Review
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Weekend Australian , 2-3 December 2000; (p. 10)
— Review of Bettany's Book 2000 single work novel -
Beyond All Reach
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 3 November no. 5092 2000; (p. 22)
— Review of Bettany's Book 2000 single work novel -
The Travelling Heroine in Recent Australian Fiction
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: 'Unemployed at Last!' : Essays on Australian Literature to 2002 for Julian Croft 2002; (p. 175-186) This essay reviews and discusses seven Australian novels published in 2000 and 2001 which all focus on 'travelling heroines'. Trying to explore what these novels tell us about the current state of Australian fiction, Webby sees a trend to avoid contemporary settings and topics and thus a confrontation with current political and social issues such as discrimination and racism. She observes a move from the nineteenth to the twentieth century as 'the favoured domain for serious Australian historical fiction', and a trend to return to essentially nineteenth-century themes and structures. - y Ancestral Narratives: Irish-Australian Identities in History and Fiction Saarbrucken : VDM Verlag , 2008-2009 Z1664583 2008-2009 single work criticism
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Keneally Embraces His Feminine Side
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 26 November 2000; (p. 44) -
Visionaries Past & Present
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 16 December 2000; (p. 42) -
Writer in Search of Beauty
2000
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 11 November 2000; (p. 5)
Last amended 13 Sep 2019 09:35:02
Settings:
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cAustralia,c
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cSudan,cNorth Africa, Africa,
- 1900-1999
- 1800-1899
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