In July 1934, Frank 'Dodger' Price, a prominent local businessman, rises
to his feet in the courtroom of a provincial Australian city. He is
charged with attempting to murder Edward Inman, a rough-hewn miner, who
shoots angry looks at his adversary from across the courtroom. What led
Price to commit this crime? The story begins in 1852 when W.H. Price,
Dodger's father, a committed atheist, escapes the stultifying
religiosity of his Welsh homeland and sails with his young wife and
child for the newly established colony of South Australia. There he
plays a key role in establishing the Australian mining industry and
becomes a founding member of the Secular Society. On the death of his
wife, he rescues Annie Forbes, his much younger Scottish housekeeper,
from her violent, drunken husband and they become lovers. The triangular
relationship that develops between Annie, William Henry, and his fourth
son, Thomas, is to have profound consequences for this highly
unconventional family as it challenges the conventions of Victorian and
Edwardian society. As the three-generational saga unfolds, it is woven
into the fabric of Australia's evolution from a fractious and often
lawless collection of British colonies into a nation.
Front cover art The Family Price by Rebecca Nunan
