There is immense challenge in the substance of this novel of
Australia's wilderness and the strange, tortured man, Voss,
who-back in 1850- led an ill-assorted expedition into the unknown.
Voss was a German, a mystery man who managed to win backing without
trust or liking. His chief backer was a rancher-promoter named
Bonner- and it is here the story starts. Here, too, are planted the
seeds of the story within the story, the strange, remote romance
between Bonner's impecunious niece, Laura Trevelyan, and the man
Voss. Bonner was a resident of Sydney, a busy colonial town, where
the women were absorbed in the petty details of a self conscious
social whirl. While this went on, the plans grew for the expedition
into the uncharted wilderness; the applicants were accepted, the
equipment collected, and finally the expedition sets forth. Bit by
bit one gets to know the eccentricities, the lack of adaptability
of one after another. There's a stopover for supplies at one
elaborately equipped ranch- at another sparsely equipped one- and
at each new members join the group. Hardshipe, dangers,
insecurities bring out the worst, until the group splits into two
sectors, separates, and all is lost. Only two natives-and one
white- make a modicum of escape. While back in Sydney, the backers
are fed sparse information and Laura lives for the rare letters-
senses disaster- and accepts a future of unwedded widowhood...One
needs perspective to grasp the achievement of this book, for- in
even greater degree than I felt it in The Tree of Man White has
chosen to tell his story in the most involuted, oblique fashion,
often seeming awkward and confused, so that the process of reading
it is a burden. That he has been accepted as Australia's foremost
novelist is somewhat baffling to our public. This has been chosen
as August Book of the Month-which may take it over the first
hurdle. (Kirkus Reviews)
Set in 19th-century Australia, this is the story of the secret passion between an explorer and a young orphan. Although they have met only a few times, Voss and Laura are joined by overwhelming, obsessive feelings for each other. The Australian author won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973.
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