Sitting in a New York park, an old man holds a book and tries to accept
that his contribution to the future is over. Instead, he remembers a
youthful yearning for open horizons, for Australia, a yearning he now
knows inspired his life as a writer. Instinctively he picks up his pen
and starts at the beginning....
At 21 years, Robert Crofts leaves his broken dreams in Far North
Queensland, finally stopping in Melbourne almost destitute. It's there
he begins to understand how books and writing might be the saving of
him. They will be how he leaves his mark on the world. He also begins to
understand how many obstacles there will be to thwart his ambition.
When Robert is introduced to Lena Soren, beautiful, rich and educated,
his life takes a very different path. But in the intimacy of their
connection lies an unknowability that both torments and tantalises as
Robert and Lena long for something that neither can provide for the
other.
In a rich blend of thoughtful and beautifully observed writing, the
lives of a husband and wife are laid bare in their passionate struggle
to engage with their individual creativity. Alex Miller is magnificent
in this most personal of all novels filled with rare wisdom and incisive
observation.
