AustLit

'Although The Salt of Broken Tears and Stormy Weather are set in the Mallee, one depicts a world of heat, dust and salt, whereas the other is an account of one day in the small town of Towaninnie on which the rain is unceasing. A major symbol of the first novel is the salt-lake, and of the second, the fecund greenness of the rabbiter's swamp. This paper will examine the way these two disparate environments affect the novels' characters and influence the narrative, and what both novels suggest about Australians' relationship with their environment.'