The prodigiously talented Australian author of the magnificent and award-winning The Great World (1991) is working on a much smaller scale here, but he writes with such beauty and universal resonance that his story has epic force. In a tiny pioneer corner of Queensland in the mid-19th century lands Gemmy Fairley, a pathetic, stammering wreck of a young man left for drowned as a boy and brought up by Aborigines. He becomes the center of attention among the local farming folk, mostly immigrants from Scotland and the North Country, already overwhelmed by their solitude in this hot, strange land, and convinced that the primitive original inhabitants will slaughter them if they drop their guard for a moment. A naturalist minister sees in Gemmy and his native skills a way for the bone-poor colony to prosper and live in harmony with the land; a decent, struggling Scottish couple take him in and by doing so tear apart their relations with their neighbors, though their children's lives are forever changed by Gemmy's presence; and the governing class, in distant Brisbane, try to do the right thing by him for all the wrong reasons. It seems the slight tale can only have a sad, violent end, but Malouf is after a much less predictable resolution. In his hands, the story acquires overtones of poetry and magic, so that death and time's passage are as palpable as the luminous landscapes he paints. This is a book that actually expands a reader's consciousness. Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

/*STARRED REVIEW*/ The work of David Malouf, an award-winning Australian novelist (his last book was The Great World ), is one of his country's finest exports. His new novel is an electrifying examination of how cultural conflict ravishes the soul. The time is the late nineteenth century; the place is the sunstruck land white settlers call Queensland. Terrified of the dark-skinned people who live within nature's web in a manner these transplants cannot fathom, the white settlers are thrown into confusion and panic by the sudden appearance of a "white black man." Gemmy--bony, battered, mangy, timid, and nearly incomprehensible--was shipwrecked offshore many years ago. He became part of the community of his black rescuers and internalized their perceptions of the world, but he was still plagued by memories of his past. These fragmented memories compel him to make himself known to his fellow whites, but they react with fear and hostility. Gemmy inadvertently becomes a catalyst for both spiritual growth and violence, changing the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. There are scenes of breathtaking magic in this haunting tale, as well as instances of shameful cowardice, and each character is rendered with extraordinary nuance and focus. (Reviewed Sept. 15, 1993)0679427244Donna Seaman From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.