"This thoughtful autobiographical work by an award-winning Australian
novelist" chronicles a young author's adventuresome coming of age
(Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
In this epic yet intimate autobiographical novel, acclaimed Australian
author Alex Miller returns to his fictional alter ego Robert Crofts, the
subject of his debut work, Watching the Climbers on the Mountain. To
flee his abusive father in the years after World War II,
sixteen-year-old Robert leaves his childhood home in London for the
Australian Outback. After a sojourn there, Robert moves to cosmopolitan
Melbourne where he meets Lena Soren, the woman who becomes the true
center of his life.
As their intimacy deepens, Lena struggles to free herself from the
familial demands and social norms that suffocate her. Very much in love,
Robert follows Lena to the end of the earth and back again as their
relationship nourishes both his artistic aspirations and her ever
stronger sense of self.
The Passage of Love is the story of a young man discovering his
calling, a young woman pursuing her own destiny, and a modern country
struggling to define itself through shifting mores.