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Locust Summer
Shortlisted for The Australian Vogel's Literary Award, Locust Summer celebrates the wide-open beauty of Australia's regions while exploring the heartbreaks that come from living on the land. On the cusp of summer, 1986, Rowan Brockman's mother asks if he can come home to Septimus in the Western Australian Wheatbelt to help with the harvest. Rowan's brother Albert, the natural heir to the farm, has died and Rowan's dad's health is failing. Although he longs to, there is no way that Rowan can refuse his mother's request as she prepares the farm for sale. This is the story of the final harvest—the story of a young man in a place he doesn't want to be, being given one last chance to make peace before the past, and those he has loved, disappear.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 2, 2021
6 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
David Allan-Petale
1 book19 followersDavid Allan-Petale is a writer from Perth, Western Australia, whose debut novel Locust Summer was published to critical acclaim by the renowned Fremantle Press and long-listed for the 2022 ALS Gold Medal for "an outstanding literary work."
The manuscript was shortlisted for the 2017 The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, with judge Stephen Romei praising it as ‘a sharp meditation on the separation of life from land.’
Locust Summer was selected for a development fellowship at Varuna, The National Writers’ House, which kindled an 18-month road trip around Australia in a caravan where David explored the country with his young family while advancing the manuscript, typing ‘the end’ on a beach at Kalbarri.
David is now back home in Perth working on a new book, raising two daughters with his beautiful wife, all while restoring a yacht in the driveway.
The manuscript was shortlisted for the 2017 The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, with judge Stephen Romei praising it as ‘a sharp meditation on the separation of life from land.’
Locust Summer was selected for a development fellowship at Varuna, The National Writers’ House, which kindled an 18-month road trip around Australia in a caravan where David explored the country with his young family while advancing the manuscript, typing ‘the end’ on a beach at Kalbarri.
David is now back home in Perth working on a new book, raising two daughters with his beautiful wife, all while restoring a yacht in the driveway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
November 5, 2021
I wrote the book, so naturally I gave it five stars.
But you should have seen the first draft...!
Locust Summer took the better part of ten years to write and publish and I enjoyed every twist and turn along the way as I followed the Brockman family and told their story.
Now it's out in the world, and it's yours.
Family, identity, love, hope, mistakes, redemption - and the incredible power, beauty and terror of the Australian landscape.
Thank you for reading.
But you should have seen the first draft...!
Locust Summer took the better part of ten years to write and publish and I enjoyed every twist and turn along the way as I followed the Brockman family and told their story.
Now it's out in the world, and it's yours.
Family, identity, love, hope, mistakes, redemption - and the incredible power, beauty and terror of the Australian landscape.
Thank you for reading.
January 16, 2026
A final harvest, a struggling family, reflecting on the past, hoping for the future.
Set in the summer of 1986, in the Western Australian wheatbelt.
Set in the summer of 1986, in the Western Australian wheatbelt.
April 23, 2021
Locust Summer was shortlisted for the 2017 Vogel, and was IMHO unlucky not to win it, because it's a very fine novel indeed.
This is the blurb:
So often, we hear young people exhorted to 'follow their dreams' … but for families in remote farming areas of Australia, this advice can tear families apart. When Rowan Brockman left the family farm to become a journalist, he was not the heir, he was 'the spare' but his decision to find a future elsewhere alienated him from the family anyway because of the gulf between his lifestyle and ambitions, and theirs.
I'm a city girl: I would be the last person on earth to be interested in the intricacies of farming, so I feel as if this book which subverts the typical farm story was written just for me. Rowan the journo is just as ignorant as I am about what's involved in harvesting a wheat crop, and by writing the novel from the urban perspective of a man out of his comfort zone, the author has conveyed the tension of those days without labouring the point. There is a not-negotiable deadline that has to accommodate unexpected rainfall, not to mention conflict amid the team. Rowan is the inexperienced intruder but he's part of the family that owns the land so his status is ambiguous. He has inappropriate clothes, soft hands and aching muscles which make him the subject of some mockery amongst the men.
As Sterlo tells Rowan when he takes an unauthorised break, it doesn't matter if he just helps his mother to take care of things, but if he's going to be part of the team 'This is no place for passengers'. Rowan's pride won't stand for that but one careless moment means he nearly ruins the crop; another moment of stupidity nearly costs him his life (and kept me reading well into the night.)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/04/23/l...
This is the blurb:
On the cusp of summer, 1986, Rowan Brockman’s mother asks if he can come home to Septimus in the Western Australian Wheatbelt to help with the harvest. Rowan’s brother Albert, the natural heir to the farm, has died, and Rowan’s dad’s health is failing. Although he longs to, there is no way that Rowan can refuse his mother’s request as she prepares the farm for sale.
This is the story of the final harvest – the story of a young man in a place he doesn’t want to be, being given one last chance to make peace before the past, and those he has loved, disappear.
So often, we hear young people exhorted to 'follow their dreams' … but for families in remote farming areas of Australia, this advice can tear families apart. When Rowan Brockman left the family farm to become a journalist, he was not the heir, he was 'the spare' but his decision to find a future elsewhere alienated him from the family anyway because of the gulf between his lifestyle and ambitions, and theirs.
I'm a city girl: I would be the last person on earth to be interested in the intricacies of farming, so I feel as if this book which subverts the typical farm story was written just for me. Rowan the journo is just as ignorant as I am about what's involved in harvesting a wheat crop, and by writing the novel from the urban perspective of a man out of his comfort zone, the author has conveyed the tension of those days without labouring the point. There is a not-negotiable deadline that has to accommodate unexpected rainfall, not to mention conflict amid the team. Rowan is the inexperienced intruder but he's part of the family that owns the land so his status is ambiguous. He has inappropriate clothes, soft hands and aching muscles which make him the subject of some mockery amongst the men.
Perhaps the worst job on a farm is mending fences. And though our morning tour hadn't revealed a busted wire or a loose picket, Sterlo set me to work pinching in a new section of livestock fencing near one of the gates linking our paddocks to the neighbouring Chambers' property.
'See how those office hands stand up', he said, handing me a pair of pliers and a hammer. 'I'll roll it out, you fix it to the posts.'
By lunch my fingers ached with arthritic tension, and by knock-off at five they could barely make the fists I wanted to shake at the whole blasted place.' (p.27)
As Sterlo tells Rowan when he takes an unauthorised break, it doesn't matter if he just helps his mother to take care of things, but if he's going to be part of the team 'This is no place for passengers'. Rowan's pride won't stand for that but one careless moment means he nearly ruins the crop; another moment of stupidity nearly costs him his life (and kept me reading well into the night.)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/04/23/l...
January 11, 2022
Really excellent Australian Fiction.
I read it in one sitting, feeling invested in the characters and compelled to keep reading their story. The prose is as authentic as it comes. These feel like real people.
Set in Western Australia, mainly on a family farm in the wheatbelt near a fictional town called Septimus (named after a real historical figure, the first Surveyor General of WA). A man, who comes across as fairly hapless, returns to his family's farm, a place that's been in the family for generations, but there is no one to take it on, he's just not interested. He does return for the last harvest as a promise to his Mum while she's looking after his Dad at the end of his life.
The early manuscript of the novel was shortlisted in the 2017 Vogel Prize for unpublished manuscripts. I wonder if there are more prizes in store this year for this book. Could be!
I read it in one sitting, feeling invested in the characters and compelled to keep reading their story. The prose is as authentic as it comes. These feel like real people.
Set in Western Australia, mainly on a family farm in the wheatbelt near a fictional town called Septimus (named after a real historical figure, the first Surveyor General of WA). A man, who comes across as fairly hapless, returns to his family's farm, a place that's been in the family for generations, but there is no one to take it on, he's just not interested. He does return for the last harvest as a promise to his Mum while she's looking after his Dad at the end of his life.
The early manuscript of the novel was shortlisted in the 2017 Vogel Prize for unpublished manuscripts. I wonder if there are more prizes in store this year for this book. Could be!
July 7, 2021
‘This is no place for nostalgia’ is a common refrain throughout the book yet it inspired so much of it for me. You can tell it has been written by a West Australian, as the sense of place has been so well written and established. It was refreshing to read a novel where I could follow a protagonist’s journey rather than the latest trend of telling a story from several different perspectives- it’s nice to be able to get inside a main character and connect with them. I couldn’t put it down!
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January 30, 2023I listened to this on Libby, and it was pleasant to hear an Australian accent narrating. Set wheat country in Western Australia a sense of country was important to the story, a story of white farming families, told from the perspective of Rowan who has moved to Perth to become a journalist and is summoned home for a 'last' harvest. His father is sick, his older brother died a few years ago, and his mother is packing up the family home.
I'm not sure how I feel about the story overall. The characters felt quite familiar, but I'm not sure I got 'close' to any of them. Perhaps because Rowan didn't, and it really is told from inside his head. A story of his relationships, and working through his grief. While I empathised with him I'm not sure I really 'connected' with Rowan. I think the sense of suffocation in the small town community from both Rowan and his mother also left me feeling disconnected to the place, despite its centrality to the story.
I'm not sure how I feel about the story overall. The characters felt quite familiar, but I'm not sure I got 'close' to any of them. Perhaps because Rowan didn't, and it really is told from inside his head. A story of his relationships, and working through his grief. While I empathised with him I'm not sure I really 'connected' with Rowan. I think the sense of suffocation in the small town community from both Rowan and his mother also left me feeling disconnected to the place, despite its centrality to the story.
August 5, 2021
Some evocative writing here - describing the wheat crops and farming in Western Australia - but more than that - splintered relationships, the yearning for love and acceptance, forgiveness and redemption.
“My car was a charmless Holden without air conditioning that became a heat sink for even the slimmest chink of sun. The radio was busted. So I wound down all the windows and decided to relish the heat, became a reptile crawling up the Great Northern Highway at 110 k’s an hour, the blond land and black road smeared together by the bow waves of passing road trains.’
An example of the way the author pulls you in. You can feel the heat and visualise the hectares of wheat crops, the tired family homestead and exhausted mother and fading father. Some beautiful sections where the father is lucid and connects with his son and environment. Congratulations to the author on this gritty debut novel.
“My car was a charmless Holden without air conditioning that became a heat sink for even the slimmest chink of sun. The radio was busted. So I wound down all the windows and decided to relish the heat, became a reptile crawling up the Great Northern Highway at 110 k’s an hour, the blond land and black road smeared together by the bow waves of passing road trains.’
An example of the way the author pulls you in. You can feel the heat and visualise the hectares of wheat crops, the tired family homestead and exhausted mother and fading father. Some beautiful sections where the father is lucid and connects with his son and environment. Congratulations to the author on this gritty debut novel.
October 26, 2021
Beautiful writing
This author clearly knows how to write! Beautifully written but my God I hated this mother and wanted to punch her in the face. Having grown up in the country and places mentioned in this book she was the opposite of every farms mother I've met.
This author clearly knows how to write! Beautifully written but my God I hated this mother and wanted to punch her in the face. Having grown up in the country and places mentioned in this book she was the opposite of every farms mother I've met.
October 23, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ audible
July 21, 2022
This is such an 'Australian' novel and it really is all the better for it!
Its setting in the West Australian wheatfields, the blokes and women who battle the outback-like elements to ensure their livelihoods and the heartbreak of life on the land are empathetically and skilfully portrayed.
The crowning achievement of the novel is the revelation of the depth of the relationships between the grieving members of the farm owning family.
Recommended.
Its setting in the West Australian wheatfields, the blokes and women who battle the outback-like elements to ensure their livelihoods and the heartbreak of life on the land are empathetically and skilfully portrayed.
The crowning achievement of the novel is the revelation of the depth of the relationships between the grieving members of the farm owning family.
Recommended.
February 5, 2022
3.5 stars - well written
November 14, 2021
I couldn’t put this down as this man battled with his memories, his regrets and his love of family. The setting is brilliantly displayed to see, feel and smell - the wheat harvest in all its chaos, planning and sheer grit. This man is trying to find his way against everyone’s expectations and against his own fear of failure. Really well done.
January 19, 2022
Wonderful. Rowan, the key character, is drawn with great heart. While the subject is matter is often bleak (farming hardships, treatment of first nations people, landcare, loneliness, death, family) the book is very tender & simply beautifully told, with a little self-deprecating Australian humour to lighten it. Emotional & brilliant - very highly recommended.
November 6, 2021
Locust Summer tells a deceptively simple story of a man who returns to the family farm in Western Australia to help bring in the last wheat harvest as his Dad is dying and his Mum plans to sell it. I say it’s deceptively simple because Rowan sets out to do that, and then does - but it’s the details and the process that really make the story.
When we meet Rowan, he lives in Perth as a journalist who is on the crime beat. His decision to leave his family farm, especially after the death of his older brother is something he hasn’t properly dealt with yet and going back is something he doesn’t want to do. When he returns, he meets up with an ex-girlfriend and others he thought he’d left behind, he sees the tragic decline of his once vibrant father and the almost-voluntary suffering of his mother caring for him. The people in the town, especially Sterlo, the experienced farm manager, see his leaving as a betrayal and look down on him for squandering his birthright and the culture of ‘real’ hands-on work.
To prove them wrong, he has to muck in and help with the harvest. It would seem that the process of harvesting wheat would be a rather dry topic but the writing elevates it. The harvest is a huge task and requires determination and co-ordination and the scenes of harvesting remind me of the whale-hunting scenes of Moby Dick, thrilling set pieces of men working together to tame a natural world that is so much bigger than they are.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent most this year reading women writers, but this is a very masculine book. Not only is masculinity one of the themes, with the townspeople seeing Rowan as less-masculine for working as a reporter, but it often celebrates the co-operation on men and deals with the very male culture of the harvesters. While there are women characters, and Rowan’s relationship with his Mum is the key to putting his past to rest, most of the novel is about how men see each other and how they see each other through other men’s eyes.
It’s also a very Australian book. Thank goodness I’ve met some because even the ambulances are ambos and everyone is ‘mate’. I found the novel affecting even as a non-Australian whose parents move around more than I do and with no real sense of a home place I come from - I imagine someone who did would find even more.
Finally, I little note on the writing. The book manages to be poetic without betraying the feeling of time or place. A person driving ‘harvests’ bugs on the windscreen, a group of men are ‘sensitive as stubbed toes’, threshers come in ‘danger red’ or ‘caution yellow’. The narrator is trained as a journalist, to report facts and leave impressions to the poets but the novel manages to have the straightforwardness of reportage without losing any of the colour of good descriptive prose.
When we meet Rowan, he lives in Perth as a journalist who is on the crime beat. His decision to leave his family farm, especially after the death of his older brother is something he hasn’t properly dealt with yet and going back is something he doesn’t want to do. When he returns, he meets up with an ex-girlfriend and others he thought he’d left behind, he sees the tragic decline of his once vibrant father and the almost-voluntary suffering of his mother caring for him. The people in the town, especially Sterlo, the experienced farm manager, see his leaving as a betrayal and look down on him for squandering his birthright and the culture of ‘real’ hands-on work.
To prove them wrong, he has to muck in and help with the harvest. It would seem that the process of harvesting wheat would be a rather dry topic but the writing elevates it. The harvest is a huge task and requires determination and co-ordination and the scenes of harvesting remind me of the whale-hunting scenes of Moby Dick, thrilling set pieces of men working together to tame a natural world that is so much bigger than they are.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent most this year reading women writers, but this is a very masculine book. Not only is masculinity one of the themes, with the townspeople seeing Rowan as less-masculine for working as a reporter, but it often celebrates the co-operation on men and deals with the very male culture of the harvesters. While there are women characters, and Rowan’s relationship with his Mum is the key to putting his past to rest, most of the novel is about how men see each other and how they see each other through other men’s eyes.
It’s also a very Australian book. Thank goodness I’ve met some because even the ambulances are ambos and everyone is ‘mate’. I found the novel affecting even as a non-Australian whose parents move around more than I do and with no real sense of a home place I come from - I imagine someone who did would find even more.
Finally, I little note on the writing. The book manages to be poetic without betraying the feeling of time or place. A person driving ‘harvests’ bugs on the windscreen, a group of men are ‘sensitive as stubbed toes’, threshers come in ‘danger red’ or ‘caution yellow’. The narrator is trained as a journalist, to report facts and leave impressions to the poets but the novel manages to have the straightforwardness of reportage without losing any of the colour of good descriptive prose.
December 14, 2021
‘Locust Summer’ is an enjoyable read, a beautifully written book in which the author deals sympathetically with characters who are realistic, but not always likeable. The reader gets to know the characters well and to understand why they are like they are. The writing evokes a strong sense of place, with vivid descriptions of the Australian rural farming region of the WA Wheatbelt where it is mostly set. Yet just enough of the story takes place in the city to make it relatable to those of us who have never lived on the land. The story centres on family relationships that are becoming more strained as elderly parents decline and a son fails to live up to his dead brother’s legacy. Events are centred around the final wheat harvest on the family farm. The harvest is described in such detail that the reader can picture every step of the process, understand every risk and obstacle, and feel every triumph and failure. Despite many of the latter, there is an overall sense of resilience and hope to be celebrated.
February 11, 2023
This is Allan-Petale's debut novel.
I borrowed this novel when it came out solely based on the cover, which I love. I returned it unread as I had other books that occupied my time. But I discovered the audiobook, so I had no more excuses, especially when it runs for just over 6 hrs.
Locust Summer is a simple novel, in that it's very realistic. It's set in Western Australia, so some of the places were familiar. The narrator, Rowan Brockman, is a young journalist, who moved to Perth (the capital of Western Australia) away from his wheat farming family in Septimus. When his mum decides to sell the farm, he has to go back to help with the last harvest.
The patriarch's health is failing, as he's got dementia. His wife does the best she can to help, it's an arduous task. This is a novel about families and their dynamics, losses, regrets, nostalgia, and letting go.
Looking forward to reading Allan-Petale's second novel.
I borrowed this novel when it came out solely based on the cover, which I love. I returned it unread as I had other books that occupied my time. But I discovered the audiobook, so I had no more excuses, especially when it runs for just over 6 hrs.
Locust Summer is a simple novel, in that it's very realistic. It's set in Western Australia, so some of the places were familiar. The narrator, Rowan Brockman, is a young journalist, who moved to Perth (the capital of Western Australia) away from his wheat farming family in Septimus. When his mum decides to sell the farm, he has to go back to help with the last harvest.
The patriarch's health is failing, as he's got dementia. His wife does the best she can to help, it's an arduous task. This is a novel about families and their dynamics, losses, regrets, nostalgia, and letting go.
Looking forward to reading Allan-Petale's second novel.
October 19, 2021
✍️ This story is set in the summer of 1986 and follows Perth journalist Rowan Brockman who has been mandated by his mother to return back home to rural Western Australia and help with the selling of the family farm. Rowan is obliged to go for the closing of the harvest specially after the passing of his brother and his father's ailing health. Rowan must go back and revisit his past and the people he left behind.
This book was a far cry from what I ordinarily like to read but in spite of that I was kept captivated to the end by the beautiful narration, agricultural themes, family dynamics and cleverly crafted storyline. Such a heartbreaking and beautifully well written story that also made me appreciate the hard work that farmers go through each day. I couldn't put it down. A sentimental and heartrending story. Highly recommend!
This book was a far cry from what I ordinarily like to read but in spite of that I was kept captivated to the end by the beautiful narration, agricultural themes, family dynamics and cleverly crafted storyline. Such a heartbreaking and beautifully well written story that also made me appreciate the hard work that farmers go through each day. I couldn't put it down. A sentimental and heartrending story. Highly recommend!
December 6, 2022
Set in the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia, this book delivers an authentic depiction of Aussie farm life during the crucial summer harvest time. Second son, Rowan, spare to the heir is summoned home from his job as a journalist in Perth to help with one final harvest. His mother is desperate as her husband’s poor health is in rapid decline and Rowan’s brother, a natural farmer has died. She is run ragged caring for Rowan’s dad and preparing for the sale of the farm. Rowan, who has never had an interest in farming, reluctantly returns often regretting his decision throughout the course of the story. He finds it difficult to rekindle his relationship with his parents which has always been prickly and his father’s health is far worse than he thought. A book about family and fraught relationships.
April 24, 2025
Locust Summer is a quietly powerful novel that captures the emotional and physical landscape of rural Western Australia with poetic precision. The story follows Rowan Brockman as he returns to his family’s farm for one last harvest, confronting both the land and his past. Allan-Petale weaves themes of grief, legacy and authentic masculinity into a slow-burning narrative that builds within the novel.
What makes Locust Summer particularly compelling is its authentic sense of place. The dry, sun-bleached crops towns with dwindling, aging populations are rendered with affection and realism, without descending into caractutre.
This is a novel that speaks to the quiet struggles of inheritance and identity, told with a tenderness that lingers. A credible debut froma writer to watch.
What makes Locust Summer particularly compelling is its authentic sense of place. The dry, sun-bleached crops towns with dwindling, aging populations are rendered with affection and realism, without descending into caractutre.
This is a novel that speaks to the quiet struggles of inheritance and identity, told with a tenderness that lingers. A credible debut froma writer to watch.
November 29, 2021
They say don't judge a book by its cover, but in this instance I think you can get away with it.
Locust Summer is gorgeous inside and out. The main character, Rowan, is very realistic. It's like Allan-Petale ran a harvester over any cliches or stereotypes, and left us characters that feel like people we know. Rowan hads a good balance of earnestness and imperfection. He stuffs up, but in every mistake we see the growth that propels him through the story. Rowan's journey wasn't predictable - I couldn't see ahead as to where all the pieces would fall in the last few pages.
I look forward to reading what DAP does next.
Locust Summer is gorgeous inside and out. The main character, Rowan, is very realistic. It's like Allan-Petale ran a harvester over any cliches or stereotypes, and left us characters that feel like people we know. Rowan hads a good balance of earnestness and imperfection. He stuffs up, but in every mistake we see the growth that propels him through the story. Rowan's journey wasn't predictable - I couldn't see ahead as to where all the pieces would fall in the last few pages.
I look forward to reading what DAP does next.
January 3, 2022
I loved the way David Petale captured the feeling of the wheatbelt and the farming community in general. The story, set in the 80s, follows Rowan Brockman into the Wheatbelt where he is asked to come and help out with the very last harvest on his family's property. He arrives to find his dad is unwell and doesn't even recognise him. His fiercely independent mother says she wants his help to pack up the house, but she keeps pushing him away. Rowan is alienated from the farm, his family and the locals because he chose to leave the farm to become a journalist. It's a tough road for him as he navigates hurt and regret and mourns the loss of his brother.
May 12, 2024
I liked the subject matter - bringing in the wheat harvest in a Western Australian town, the decline of the owner of the farm due to dementia and then we discover cancer, the packing up of a house that has been in the family for 3 generations but it just didn’t ‘click’ for me. Maybe because the mother kept pushing the son, Rowan, away? Maybe because he felt inadequate because the ‘wrong’ brother died? I hated the part about the dogs being shot and gasped out loud. Didn’t see that coming. He seemed a bit of a failure all round, even at his chosen profession, journalism. The best thing about the book was it’s beautiful cover art.
May 17, 2022
I enjoyed this and raced through it in a couple of days - as a journalist David Allan-Petale must have listened to many stories about farming and rural Western Australian and has now distilled them into this beautiful, funny and sad tale of a family's last harvest. The story's themes of inheritance, family and land are all expressed gracefully with vivid detail, a powerful sense of place and many wonderful characters, in particular the mum. Loved it.
August 4, 2021
Australians who live in the country or have some connection to the land will find this book reads true. It has a strong sense of time and place. I loved it. It examines family love, commitment and responsibilities, grief and resilience. It's not hard to read and I enjoyed it and have thought back on it many times since reading it.
December 17, 2021
It's a few books ago that I read Locust Summer but I can still remember the refreshing read about a familiar Aussie landscape, credible characters and a heart warming story. The plot built steadily throughout and the characters chrysalized keeping me wondering what might happen to this fractured family. It was a very real and engrossing story.
January 10, 2022
This was a very good debut novel set in Western Australia during the harvesting season. I was enthralled by the story and the characters. It’s the age old story about family, loyalties, obligations and finding you own way in the world. Good luck to David for a long and successful career as an author
March 6, 2022
An exceptional read by a talented author.
I could feel the heat, the sweat, the heartache of the harvest in rural WA on every page.
I could feel the struggle and growth in Rowan as he was pulled by family ties back to the farm, a calling he resented, all the while needing the connection to let go of the past and move towards the future.
A rewarding read!
I could feel the heat, the sweat, the heartache of the harvest in rural WA on every page.
I could feel the struggle and growth in Rowan as he was pulled by family ties back to the farm, a calling he resented, all the while needing the connection to let go of the past and move towards the future.
A rewarding read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2021
Australian to the core. The final harvest in WA wheat fields before the land is sold as both oldest son and father pass away. The journalist 2nd son ……..you know the story already. It is nicely written, and the characters pleasant.
August 26, 2021
Wonderfully descriptive, funny and poignant. A tale of life in the Australian Mid West. Thoroughly enjoyed David Allan-Petale’s insight into the life of a young mans struggle with his place in the world.
September 2, 2021
Cleverly crafted narrative and a setting that took me back to my own experiences in the WA wheat belt. In Rowan especially, David has created highly believable and enduring characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this work and look forward to more from David.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews