The Sun Walks Down

by Fiona McFarlane

In September 1883, the South Australian town of Fairly huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and the whole town is intent on finding him. As they search the desert and mountains for the lost child, the residents of Fairly - newlyweds, landowners, farmers, mothers, artists, Indigenous trackers, cameleers, children, schoolteachers, widows, maids, policemen - explore their own relationships with the complex landscape unsettling history of the Flinders Ranges.

The colonial Australia of The Sun Walks Down is unfamiliar, multicultural, and noisy with opinions, arguments, longings and terrors. It's haunted by many gods - the sun among them, rising and falling on each day that Denny could be found, or lost forever.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Australia, Historical, Audiobook, Mystery, Novels

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 5, 2022

About the author

Fiona McFarlane grew up in Sydney, Australia. She studied English at Sydney University and completed a PhD on nostalgia in American fiction at Cambridge University. She spent 3 years at writing residencies in the US - at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire - before studying for a Masters of Fine Arts in Fiction at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin.

Fiona's first novel, The Night Guest, will be published in 19 countries and 15 languages, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Stella Prize, an LA Times Book Review prize, an INDIE Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and an Australian Book Industry Award. The Night Guest won a NSW Premier's Prize and Fiona was named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist for 2014.

Fiona's short stories have been published in Zoetrope: All-Story, Southerly, Best Australian Stories, New Australian Stories 2, the Missouri Review and the New Yorker. She is currently completing a collection, to be published by Penguin Australia, Sceptre (UK) and Faber and Faber (US).

Reviews

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breaking: Girl Who Doesn't Really Like Historical Fiction Reads A Historical Fiction Book And Doesn't Really Like It.

i still read like 1 historical fiction book per year because i'm obsessed with proving myself wrong, and i was excited about this one because it's literary-y...

but i just didn't connect with it.

oh well. i'm willing to blame myself.

bottom line: it's not you, it's me. probably.

(thanks to the publisher for the copy)

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a book and the place really doesn’t matter . It could be anywhere and still carry the depth and significance of the story. Other times, the place is such an important part of the story and you really couldn’t separate the two and get the same effect . In this quiet, intense and beautifully written novel, the place is as much a part of the story as are the characters. At the heart of the story is 6 year old Denny, who has gotten lost during a dust storm in The Flinders Ranges in Australia . There is so much here to think about with a pretty large cast of characters searching for Denny, who they are to this place and to each other. It’s about their individual stories and also on a larger scale about class distinctions, racism against the indigenous people in 1880’s reflected in this excellent work of historical fiction. In alternating points of view of a lost boy’s family and community members we learn about them as individuals and as a community, and we learn about this place in Australia , the land through perfect descriptions that made me feel as if I was there . My heart ached for Denny and his family as I waited to know his fate.

I received a copy of this book from Farrar, Strauss and Giroux through Edelweiss.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane


Synopsis /

In September 1883, the South Australian town of Fairly huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and the whole town is intent on finding him. As they search the desert and mountains for the lost child, the residents of Fairly - newlyweds, landowners, farmers, mothers, artists, Indigenous trackers, cameleers, children, schoolteachers, widows, maids, policemen - explore their own relationships with the complex landscape unsettling history of the Flinders Ranges.

The colonial Australia of The Sun Walks Down is unfamiliar, multicultural, and noisy with opinions, arguments, longings and terrors. It's haunted by many gods - the sun among them, rising and falling on each day that Denny could be found, or lost forever.

My Thoughts /

First and foremost, a huge thank you to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Fiona McFarlane is an Australian author, best known for her book, The Night Guest, which was published back in 2013, about a retired widow who lives alone and suffers from dementia. It won the Voss Literary Prize and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, the Stella Prize, and the Guardian First Book Award. In 2017, McFarlane won the Dylan Thomas Prize for her collection of short stories titled, The High Places.

The Sun Walks Down is this author’s latest offering.

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present.

The setting of the story is the Ikara-Flinders Ranges in South Australia. A place of myths and legends. A place protected and surrounded by ancient laws and cultural practices. A land full of meaning and purpose to its original inhabitants.

Life on the Plains.

Prior to the arrival of the first European settlers, the area now occupied by the city of Adelaide - called Tarndanya (red kangaroo place) - was open grassy plains, interspersed with patches of woodland, mainly mallee box, she-oaks and acacias, and scattered red gums and blue gums. The River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri) was lined with a dense red gum forest. It wound its way from the foothills across the plains to feed its waters into the Reedbeds (Witungga - 'reedy place') at Fulham. Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it?

But even in1883, when the story in this book takes place, you can see that colonisation has resulted in inequity, racism, and the disruption of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

The story begins with a storm. Not the kind that brings thunder and rain. This storm brings with it an advancing wall of gritty red dust and debris. Reducing visibility and creating hazardous travelling conditions. Swallowing everything in its path.

Six years old, Denny Wallace, is terrified that the approaching dust storm is some kind of a bad spirit. So, he runs away and hides in hope that the spirit won’t find him.

Lost on the great Flinders Ranges, Denny’s journey to find home is played out over the course of a week, with McFarlane breaking the story into days – day one, night one, day two, night two and so on.

The entire town and surrounding townsfolk become involved in the search to find Denny. McFarlane’s cast of characters is generous, from Indigenous trackers to Afghani cameleers, from shearers to schoolteachers, from uptight landowners to the [altogether useless] local vicar.

I’ll admit to having trouble in the start of the book with the author’s writing style. I found it overly descriptive. The sun, a ball of burning orange, dominates like a powerful, all-seeing deity. However, the author notes that she was inspired by the disquieting beauty of the Flinders Ranges, which is littered with the stone ruins of the colonial farms and towns that failed to thrive there in the late 19th century. I found the landscape extremely unsettling, and was struck by the appropriateness of that word: I was encountering a place with a long history of unsettlement, beginning with the violent dispossession of the land's traditional owners.

And I have to say, as the story progressed, so did I. I barely registered it as an annoyance, but merely fell into the beauty that was the story.

With its multiculturalism, inequities, racism (which is rife with noisy opinions), arguments, desires, and overarching gods The Sun Walks Down is a deeply disturbing yet beautifully written novel that is full of melancholy and joy. The author has done a wonderful job of bringing together the people and the place with those of the past.

This novel grew out of my love of the arid landscape of Australia’s Flinders Ranges, which is littered with the stone ruins of the colonial farms and towns that failed to thrive there in the nineteenth century… the disquieting beauty of this ‘ghost desert’ really crystallised, for me, the idea of Australia’s colonial history as a series of unsettlements, beginning with the violent dispossession of the land’s traditional owners… And alongside all these ideas, one main image pulled me through the story: a six-year-old boy out in the desert, alone. — Fiona McFarlane

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read and loved Fiona McFarlane's THE NIGHT GUEST when it came out and it was a tense and terrifically claustrophobic read, one that focused on the fate of just one character. This next novel by McFarlane is written with the same loving attention to human happenings, but with a much broader focus. It is one of those rare novels that succeeds in making the 'main character' an entire community. The novel begins with a singular incident--a boy is lost in a dust storm--and uses this incident to braid a complex story involving human beings who happen to share the same geographic territory and historical moment. MacFarlane is less interested in the kinds of questions that would preoccupy most authors who begin with the premise of a lost child--'will the child be all right?'--'will the child be reunited with his parents?'--and is far more interested in exploring how many people from many walks of life respond to the crisis, each in their own way.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

1883, and a 6 year old boy gets lost in the Australian Outback desert during a dust storm. It's also sheep shearing time, and wheat planting time, which means there's no time to drop everything to go looking for him. Most of the people of Fairly do just that though, and this is their story just as much as his. Even the Aboriginal trackers, the acknowledged best, are in on the action. There are a lot threads in this story, and we come to know these people as though we lived there ourselves.

The author holds all this together admirably, while at the same time giving us a brief history of the region, and some glorious descriptions of the land that is harsh and beautiful at the same time.

I never even heard of Fiona McFarlane before now. I picked this up at the library because of the cover and the title, and because I love reading about Australia. This was poetry in prose and held my attention throughout as I read to discover the fate of this little boy.

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covering the week where a sensitive young boy, Denny, goes missing in the hot dry South Australian outback in 1883. This book covered a lot of ground, of those who looked for Denny, those who came across him, and his family. The trackers tasked to find him and the various towns folk who were a mixed menagerie of cultures, occupations, social standing, and ethnicity.

They ranged from landowners, to newlyweds, Afghan cameleers, Swedish artists, maids amongst the large cast.

A very well written book, it is clear this author would be a gifted teacher in creative writing, where she both studied and taught in Australia and America.

Literary fiction isn’t a favoured genre for me, and this book missed my emotional investment, but there is no question about the remarkable imagery as the sun and the mountains in this rough and unforgiving terrain that haunt all the individuals in this story.

I loved some characters – Denny’s sister was remarkable, and I disliked others – the newlywed wife. The scene with her and the cameleer made me sad.

A remarkable effort to produce an evocative and serious literary book, fans of this genre will appreciate its richness.

I would rate this as 4 stars for the writing, 2 for my enjoyment: therefore, I sit in the middle at 3 stars. Recommended for lovers of Australian literature, they will not be disappointed in this reading experience.

With thanks to Allen & Unwin for my uncorrected proof copy for review.

[Melissa Crytzer Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohh. This novel! My love affair is multi-faceted: the beautiful, evocative language; the Australian desert setting so reminiscent of my Sonoran desert home; the deep dive into rich and complicated characters; the nods to artistry and creative pursuits; the respect of the natural world; the symbolism and thematic messages!

While this is a book that takes place over seven days (compact time periods are not generally my favored set-up), it actually reaches back in time, well before the 1883 ‘event’ in the book – through flashbacks of multiple characters in this small desert community, making it a rich and nuanced reading experience.

Even with this depth, there is tension and excellent pacing (and several surprises) that had me flipping pages from start to finish.

McFarlane is a gifted writer, taking her readers on a journey through time and geography, and offering expert description of characters:

Cissy might be capable of standing at the gate and hauling the whole plain in like a net. Trees and fences will come with it, flocks of sheep, the wheat paddocks, the railway, and also Denny – Cissy will catch him up and bring him in.

[Another description of Cissy] … Mary watches Cissy walk onto the plain. She seems to sail over the thorny ground, with nothing to stop her step or catch her skirt. It’s as if there’s nothing there but Cissy – no plants or rocks or flies, no sun or temperature at all, and Mary is proud to have made this girl, this daughter, who will find Denny and bring him home.

… the country flattens, and all along the road out to the Wallace place you can see the surprising hill beside their house. The way it erupts from the flatness of the plain seems so unlikely, as if some tired prophet passed by once and God made a hill to give him shade.

The animals look out at Bear from lowered lids. Because they require nothing from him, not food or water, not pity or affection, he feels judged by them.

[From a character who is an artist]: The reds here are simply unimaginable, dumbfounding, the purest I have seen, as if fire itself has caught fire. Not to mention the deep purples, which are almost poisonous – when the sky turns red, the hills look bruised…. The sky pulls the land up to it. It involves the land. How to get this feeling out and onto paper?

I absolutely fell in love with the characters – little Denny, Mary and Mathew – and especially fiery Cissy – but also the Rapps, the Axams and the libidinous Minna. And Billy. Especially Billy. This novel offers a peek into the complicated lives of all the inhabitants of the town – and the ways their prejudices, desires, and religious/spiritual beliefs shape their lives and interactions with one another.

Through the lens of one exacting moment that brings together and divides a community, the author explores themes ranging from settler colonialism and its horrendous impact on native Aboriginal Australians to women’s roles during the 1800s in Australia. The novel is an examination of what humans do when nature is a formidable foe and touches on the role of art in the painting of history (both canvas and literary art).

I will be buying a print copy of this incredible literary book and so look forward to this author's future work! Many thanks to Net Galley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Margitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The arid region of South Australia in which the novel is set is full of colonial ruins, from lonely churches to entire ghost towns...

I knew I wanted to use this time and place as a way into a novel that interrogated Australian colonial history and its founding cultural myths." ~ Fiona McFarlane.

This novel encompasses a multitude of characters, issues, as well as historical myths, into one forceful narrative. When I closed the book, I was lost in thought for a while. I couldn't decide what to write or what to think, and I remained immersed in another world where finding a way out that would make sense in retrospect seemed impossible. Eventually, I sought additional sources to guide me in writing my review. I discovered Fiona McFarlane talking about her book, and it convinced me that she should be the first to enter my review, in her own words.

She was in conversation with author Michelle de Kretser.

Michelle de Kretser uses terms such as "spectacular" to compliment Fiona on her book "The Sun Walks Down".

"It is an original revisioning of an iconic story";
"It handles a complex narrative structure superbly";
"It portrays the daily life of a 19th-century outback community in painterly detail";
"It imagines an array of diverse characters with astonishing intensity";
"It addresses the large and contested subject of Australian history directly and wisely, presenting and representing the past with a richness and profundity that is wholly distinctive;
It achieves all this lightly without didacticism, without renouncing humor and generosity, and does it in glorious prose".

Furthermore, her fellow writers used the following adjectives to describe Fiona's novel: "brilliant, magnificent, assured, majestic, symphonic, extraordinary, phenomenal".

Michelle goes on to say that Fiona is uncomfortable with the G-word, so rather than calling her a 'genius', Michelle will settle for "goddess". Goddess Fiona. It will be—a radical feminist approach to the rewriting of history, seen in retrospect and with a new perspective on the traditional.

Thus begins the story with the iconic Australian figure of The Lost Child, portrayed in film, art, and literature. After visiting the landscape of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, where cemeteries with a great number of children's graves were present in the brown-colored environment of the desert, the author chose the fate of the mythological lost children as the premise of her story.

Where the original colonists expected conditions similar to England, they found just the opposite, resulting in a kind of cultural angst. The land was misunderstood and mistreated.

When Denny vanishes, multiple characters emotionally proceed to find him, exploring the situation metaphorically as their dreams and hopes finally get lost or found. It becomes urgent for all of them to address their desires and fears of being lost in the scramble for land and better lives, as well as to re-evaluate their expectations, ambitions, and limitations.

The author presented the history of this southern outback as a series of unsettlements. In her interview with Michelle de Kretser, she said: "One of the things that really struck me was that as you drive through Flinders, there are colonial ruins everywhere, from single chimneys standing in the middle of a paddock, to churches that just appear out of nowhere, or entire towns, entire ghost towns. Who are these people who lived here and don't live here anymore? Who are these people who came and abandoned these 19th-century houses?

I started looking into the sad history of people who believed that if they plowed land in the desert it would rain. That was a true belief. They went north of what's called the Goider's Line in South Australia, where they were told it wouldn't rain and they couldn't possibly grow wheat. They did it anyway and tried to exist in this arid landscape in basically English agricultural villages.

The word that kept coming to me as I was experiencing this landscape was that this was deeply unsettling. It was interesting to think about the history of Australia not as this grand project of settlement but as an invasion that unsettled the original inhabitants of the country, and as a kind of failed project, at least specifically in The Flinders. So I became interested in exploring the ways in which settlement had been disrupted by different forces, many of them human folly and that felt to me like an interesting way to approach Australian history because it is not necessarily the story that we are taught in school or that we think of when we cast our minds back to Colonial Australia.

When you talk about the history and the invasion, we think of indigenous people, and I think this book just weaves beautifully and respectfully all kinds of indigenous knowledge and story into its narrative and also draws us beautifully into the lives of its indigenous characters. But this is contested grounds in Australian literature. There are writers, indigenous writers, and others who believe that the rest of us should stay away from writing from an indigenous perspective, while others feel it is not problematic.

I'm thinking here specifically of the character Billy Ruff, the farmhand who works with Denny's father..."

In the end, she felt it would have been disingenuous and, at best, insulting to ignore the native inhabitants of the region in the tale, and she tried humbly and respectfully to correct the tale by including particular characters from a white writer's perspective, hoping that nobody would get hurt and that cultural appropriation would not be present.

In a contemporary zeitgeist, the tale becomes a radical feminist retelling of part of the Australian past. The author, at one point, stated that her book is asking who gets to make art and why that matters, and who that might hurt. Who gets to tell stories, what are the consequences of these stories, and who suffers for them? "So the book is full of artists who do more and less nefarious things in the name of art," she says. "There are larger questions around appropriation and around the way in which Australian literature has been culpable in shaping certain narratives. The Australian writer in the novel is a kind of unpleasant policeman, that's very deliberate" (Foster, the white policeman).

One of the other artists included in the book is Bess Rapp, wife of the Swedish painter Karl. Bess, or Elizabeth, is British and is also experienced as a bossy woman who rules her husband. She becomes criminal in her artistic greed and does not deem it necessary to answer to anyone, neither a court of law nor society. It really does not matter what anyone else, or even the history books, might have to endure. Moreover, she said her book would serve a good purpose. Bottom line: she should be remembered as a heroine.

The strong characters are women, while most of the lost souls can be found among the white men. The real hero of the tale happens to be an Aboriginal man, a symbol of what the land needed to recover from after the colonial grabbing and greed.

My conclusion: I will skip the adjectives so lavishly and wildly sprinkled all over the novel by fellow authors: "brilliant, magnificent, assured, majestic, symphonic, extraordinary, phenomenal, spectacular". That's way too suspiciously exaggerated.

However, I agree with author Michelle de Kretser:
"It is an original revisioning of an iconic story"; YES!
"It handles a complex narrative structure superbly"; YES!
"It portrays the daily life of a 19th-century outback community in painterly detail"; YES!
"It imagines an array of diverse characters with astonishing intensity"; YES!
"It addresses the large and contested subject of Australian history directly (YES!) and wisely(DEBATABLE!), presenting and representing the past with a richness and profundity that is wholly distinctive - YES!;
It achieves all this lightly without didacticism, without renouncing humor and generosity, (YES!) and does it in glorious prose" (SKIP THE 'GLORIOUS, FOR CRYING OUT TEARS! TOO TACKY! Yours truly would replace it with 'ATMOSPHERIC' and 'SUSPENSEFUL' PROSE - Just saying).

But YES, it's a unique rendition of history, regardless of a reader's fondness of radical feminist rhetoric or not. The latter will sadly date this novel, as has happened with the majority of political-inspired narratives throughout history. It is the 'Foster' kind of novel that become iconic in the end.

Trigger warnings:
Absence of emotional depth;
The novel was written for students of a creative writing course;
Fourteen main characters - way too many;
A desperate attempt to address too many issues in one narrative. It was just all over the place;
Anti-religious, anti-matrimony, anti-white men: too formulaic— the boring radical feminism trope.

BONUS POINT FOR THE BOOK
I appreciate and adore the realism.

Quote from the book:

This book will tell the truth to the city folk, who think it’s all boiling billies and the Milky Way. This is bloody country for those who aren’t prepared—the weak, the nervous. The true pioneers, true children of the bush, are always masters of themselves.

[Maxwell]

Unfortunately at the 33% I’m still not super invested in this story. While I appreciate the writing and atmosphere this novel contains, I am finding the vast cast of characters to be too much to keep track of and detrimental to me following and caring about the story.

[Ari Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly, this novel just enveloped me from the very first page, immersing me in a harsh and sunbaked landscape. In a small farming and ranching town in drying-up 1880s South Australia, a young boy goes missing in a sandstorm. But this is really a probing and precise portrait of an entire community-- divided by class, ethnicity, and race-- some of whom are searching for young Denny more desperately than others.

But the plotting here is slow and spiraling rather than linear and procedural. McFarlane artfully zooms out from Denny's panicked family in order to etch precise and focused character studies of dissolute wealthy landowners, dispossessed indigenous trackers, a sun-obsessed Swedish artist and his English wife, a German widow, the local police constable and his distracted new bride. Their meandering tracks through the desert and mountains intersect and diverge, with stunning descriptions of wild and bleak scenery, and especially the spectacular sunsets, whose saturated color was intensified by the Krakatoa volcanic eruption.

This repaid my patience with a slowly savored 19th-century narrative of the 19th century, and I hope this isn't overlooked for the Miles Franklin Award, and especially the Booker longlist.

Many thanks to Netgalley and FSG for providing me with a free ARC, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

“This is bloody country for those who aren’t prepared—the weak, the nervous. The true pioneers, true children of the bush, are always masters of themselves.”

After a dust storm passes over the tiny South Australian town of Fairly, six year old Denny Wallace, who was last seen collecting kindling in a dry creek bed behind the family homestead, cannot be found. While Denny’s mother and sisters fret, Denny’s father, Matthew, returns from a long day of sowing turnips in the field, to then set out in to the desert with his hired hand, Billy Rough, to search for his only son. When they fail to find him by first light, word spreads quickly across the region, and the community begins to rally.

Set in 1883, The Sun Walks Down unfolds over a week in September. As each long day passes, McFarlane dips in and out of the lives of those touched, some only peripherally, by Denny’s disappearance exposing anxieties and ambitions, rivalries and friendships, superstitions and secrets, accomplishments and failures. Meanwhile Denny, a sensitive child, wanders across the Flinders Ranges, lost and afraid of the blood red Sun.

Objectively I recognise and appreciate the elements of this story from the evocative imagery, to its thoughtful exploration of themes such as colonisation and dispossession. The characters are portrayed with an unexpected richness given the large cast, and their relationships to one another, and the land, acknowledges the distinctiveness of culture, experience and purpose.

Yet I was unmoved by it all, even the possibilities of poor Denny’s fate. I can’t articulate why I didn’t connect emotionally to the story, because nothing is lacking per se, it just didn’t resonate with me.

Despite my own experience, I do feel The Sun Walks Down has a lot to recommend it so if it appeals, don’t hesitate to pick it up.

[Barbara K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is proving to be a very difficult book to rate. It is beautifully written, with a great story, well rendered characterizations and a dramatic setting, the Australian outback in 1883. A six year old boy wanders away from his family’s (failing) wheat farm and becomes lost. Various groups of people either search for him or are affected in some way by the search.

What is the problem, then, with so much to recommend it? Well, it dragged at times, while the author presented the points of view of 24 different characters. About half of these POVs are in some depth, while the rest are shorter. Collectively they illustrate the population and the culture of the time and place, with emphasis on the treatment of the aboriginal people, the disparities between the lives of the whites with money and those without, and the poorly designed government policies for development of the area. A significant amount of the story is devoted to a Swedish/English artist couple who are traveling through the region and become involved in the story of the lost boy.

IMO, the author’s ambition to make her picture of that particular time and place absolutely complete failed her in the end. Here’s an example: there is an aside devoted to the local prostitute, who ruminates at length about how she got there, and about the lives and circumstances of Australian gold miners. That isn’t at all germane to this story, and unnecessarily pulls us away from the main plot - which is really very good. The ending is excellent, by the way. It just took too long, with too many side trips, to get there.

I’m giving it 4 stars in recognition of the high quality of the writing. I think many people will enjoy it, but it was just a bit too cluttered for my tastes.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, what? Did I? Just read? This book used a lot of words to, essentially, say nothing. It rambled on so much, I thought I was at an auction, with a bunch of gibberish that just felt filler. Absolutely too many characters that had lengthy, meaningless introductions and so much going on outside of the main plot that I lost interest from the get-go.

This book drew me in from the description: 1883 in outback Australia and a boy goes missing in a dust storm that has the whole town looking for him. But instead, every character either seemed self involved, moronic, or useless. I feel like we barely get a story about a lost boy and, instead, the mindless debacles of the town’s people running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

I do not recommend this book and honestly baffled that so many people rated it so high.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in South Australia in 1883, a young boy gets lost in the desert. Over the next seven days and nights, the book follows a whole community as they look for him. His family on their small wheat property faced with drought include his mother and father and five sisters. There’s a large cast of characters and the book is so skilfully and beautifully written that it is easy to follow all their different personalities. The landscape is also a major part of the story including spectacular sunsets due to the massive volcanic eruption at Krakatoa. This was a brilliant read showing the full range of people in the colony.

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastically crafted, intricate work of historical fiction. I highly recommend it.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Willochra Plain in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia is home to vast sheep and cattle stations and small holdings of failing wheat farms in September 1883. Situated on the plain is Undelcarra, house of the Wallace family: father Mathew, hearing impaired mother Mary, their 5 daughters and young son. To supplement their meagre income from crops, Mathew and his Aboriginal employee Billy Rough also transport fleeces to the railhead and deliver supplies to the graziers.
On the day his sisters are attending the wedding of the local police constable and Minna Baumann in the nearby town of Fairly, 6 year old Denny Wallace, looking for twigs and kindling, becomes lost in a sudden red dust storm. Denny had been told if he ever became lost to look for water and make big tracks: break branches, stomp in the dirt, mark trees with his knife. Denny knows God is busy with Bible story emergencies and probably has little interest in finding him, but is confused by myths and local indigenous legends and is worried that gods are hunting him. As the days pass, he hides from the ones who called for him by name.
Regardless of the whole community rallying, the Wallace’s neighbour George Axam won’t allow Tal, the best tracker in the district to help in the search to find Denny because the shearing is about to begin. Despite the pressing paid work opportunities Mathew and Billy can’t wait for a Sergeant and his team of trackers to arrive, and Mathew makes a bargain with his God: the horses, harvest and the farm to find his son. Bold and obstreperous 15 year old Cissy is Denny’s only sister to go out searching with the men of the town. But when eldest sister Joy finds a bloodied handkerchief, a gentleman’s but un-monogrammed, in their wheat field dire speculation takes hold. Denny’s discarded boots are found but a vicar is missing. There’s a fire in the night and apples are stolen. It’s a week since the child disappeared and the sunsets become increasingly gaudy and violently vivid, colouring the townsfolk’s divergent characteristics: religious and superstitious prejudices, disabilities and vanities, glory hounds and jealousies. The native workers are more noble than the landed gentry, the Afghan cameleers more upstanding than the constable’s bride. Like the contemporaneous Krakatoa, class, gender and race differences are explosively blown apart.
‘The Sun Walks Down’ is a phrase meaningful to the visiting Swedish artist Karl Rapp, who with his wife will have a profound influence on Denny’s life. Gloriously descriptive of country and personalities, Fiona McFarlane’s novel is a superb and enjoyable accomplishment.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for an advanced reading copy.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the principal plot involves a child lost in a wilderness, it is not common for the novelist to be as playful as Fiona McFarlane is in this, her second novel. What starts out as another way of picturing a cross-section of rural people (they never feel like “folks” here) increasingly becomes a way of displaying the author’s range, in many respects, somewhat like the changes in animation and levels of reality and unreality often employed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Playfulness is a wonderful thing in McFarlane’s hands. It means that you never know what will come next, not just plotwise, but across the board (types of chapter, the third-person narrator’s voice, etc.). If only a horse or the donkey had spoken! The choice of present tense for a historical novel was also perfect, not just for the usual immediacy it provides, but also for the freedom it seemed to give the author to make this much more than an historical novel.

This is foremost a literary novel, and many lovers of historical writing might be discomfited by its changeability. I loved it.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An evocative, beautifully rendered novel set in a small town in the colonial South Australian outback of 1883, with a large and varied cast of characters, told in many voices and from several perspectives, white farmers and large landholders, police, aboriginals who work for the whites and those who still live traditionally, trackers, Afghani cameleers, newlyweds, a Swedish artist and his writer wife, and so on. The town of Fairly is experiencing some bizarre and strikingly brilliant flaming sunsets, which enthrall and inspire the visiting artist, when six-year-old Denny is lost in a sudden sandstorm. The town is galvanized into action, with a search immediately launched. (Even the newlywed police constable, married that very day, must join the search.) The days tick by with no sign of Denny, and the story unfolds in the different voices, marked by “first night,” “second day” “fourth night” and so on. Utterly captivating, a broadly panoramic view of the land and people. (And, as a personal aside, I will say that listening to this gorgeous story of a land baking under a strange sun was the perfect antidote while spending three hours shovelling out from under more than a foot of sodden, heavy snow. Whisked me entirely away. ☺️)

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
The Sun Walks Down is an evocative story of unsettledness, dispossession and survival in a harsh, arid land, all centred around the search for a six-year-old boy lost in the desert.

McFarlane is a skilled writer who has penned a powerful period story set over one week during September 1883. The author keenly depicts the impact the ruthlessness the desert region of Australia has on individuals and families.

A wide and varying cast of nuanced characters are introduced in this predominantly character driven novel. The reader is given a thorough insight into their feelings for the land and each other. I found it hard to develop a connection to any of the characters, even the lost boy, as the story flits back and forth with no real focus on any one family or character. I did however feel a connection to the land through McFarlane's descriptions of the remoteness and bleakness of the setting. I liked the inclusion of the strange blood red sunsets and how the characters frequently mentioned its ominous feel which is such a comparison to today where catastrophic events of nature are immediately communicated around the world through electronic means. We no longer have that awe or confusion over unusual solar activity.

The story was a touch slow for me but if you are a lover of beautiful writing and literary fiction I am sure The Sun Walks Down will be a book you will enjoy.
*I received my copy from the publisher

[Marles Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most striking things that hits you when you read The Sun Walks Down are the many different ways that the Australian landscape is described in one book. This is a book of characters that are shaped by the experience of thd land, the geography, the surrounds of Fairly, in the South Australian outback in the 1880s. We meet Denny and his family - sisters, father and deaf mother - and a mixed bag of people from the local police officer and his new wife, the Swedish artisan, Aboriginal trackers and stockhands, Afghani cameleers, a teacher, a vicar and others. Everyone has a connection to the land. They all have a story and it is their story that shapes how to deal with the predicament all this lost little boy called Denny.

This landscape through the eyes of Denny stepped in time with the ancient stories of the land. The way the sunsets he sees are captured are eerily beautiful, the redness, the deepest colours. The "sun had been so red when it set that the boy thought the gods must be angry". This, to me, was a beautiful acknowledgement of those who Inhabited the lands for thousands of years and their power still held across this desert land, ss well as the was referred to in The Bible that was read to Denny. The conception and delivery of this story over seven days was a culmination of emotion: anguish, loss, love, comedy, structure, misunderstanding, missed timing and deflated arrogance. I had anticipated a typical colonial outback story when this was gifted to me by @allenandunwin; instead I received a story that captivated me from beginning to end with the power of perspective.

[Colleen Chi-Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a powerful book and so beautifully written....almost like poetry. It contains important information on the colonial times in Southern Australia in 1883 that many may not have read or learned about previously, especially concerning the aboriginal/native people. Emma Jones, is the soft-spoken, Aussie-accented, narrator who created a gentle, poetic, atmosphere in her narration.

This is a multi-faceted story about a 6 year old boy, Denny, who goes missing during a horrific dust storm, whereby the whole community becomes involved with his search. We learn about various people as they begin finding out about the missing boy from "—newlyweds, landowners, farmers, mothers, artists, Indigenous trackers, cameleers, children, schoolteachers, widows, maids, policemen—" along with their relationships, personas, and the multicultural homes and habitats.

It is truly difficult and rough living times and we witness some of the behavior of the townsfolk: One man who refuses to let the best tracker search for Denny; how Denny's father bargains with God for his son to be found, and how Cissy (Denny's sister) is one of the most singularly brave girl and strong sibling to go searching with some of the men. We also discover that Denny's mistrust in some of the searchers cause him to stay hidden and unresponsive.

I'd like to thank the author, Fiona McFarlane, an Australian, NetGalley, and Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd, for the beautiful Audio ARC, for my unbiased review.

[Rosemary Atwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classic trope of the lost child in the bush is beautifully explored in ‘The Sun Walks Down’ - a piece of creative historical fiction that will win many hearts and a highly enjoyable read to end another fulfilling year of reading.

The range of characters, perspectives and observations are sensitive, sharp and wholly believable. I haven’t read this author’s work before and will be seeking her earlier achievements with high expectations.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was hard going. I’m tempted to say two stars due to my lack of enjoyment of this book but that makes me feel mean and unintelligent because I know this is a literary novel as opposed to most of the mysteries, crime and popular fiction that I like reading. I read Mc Farlane’s The Night Guest a few years ago and this book was in the same style; dreamy, trippy confusion. The characters were straight up weird and unlikeable. They included an old lady who was intent on stealing an Aboriginal man’s possum skin cloak, a woman who maybe wanted to steal a child or maybe just wanted to keep him for a day or so to draw, a newly wed woman who was up for sex with any man that came near her and a vicar with a death wish.

The setting was 1880s South Australia, in the marginal farming land near the Flinders Ranges. A six year old boy is missing and through a parade of characters we follow the story of the subsequent search. It’s all very confusing and I guess maybe this mimics the experience that people back then would have faced, the lack of communication, the difficulties of trying to farm this land and the gulf of understanding between the Aboriginal people and the settlers. There were lots of things that felt symbolic throughout the book; the aforementioned possum skin cloak, a bloodied handkerchief in a field, setting fire to a tree but I don’t know what they meant and to be honest I was just happy to finish and move on.

[Pat Trattles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry but I couldn’t get into this story at all. I was ready to stop reading about 25% through, but seeing all the glowing reviews I kept reading, hoping it would get better. It didn’t. About ¾ of the way through I started skimming, hoping it would have a satisfying ending. It didn’t. The story preceded slowly meandering around with no excitement. The blurb talks about a lost boy in the Australian outback and the week long search to find him. But probably upwards of 70 to 80% dealt with other characters, some of which were not even remotely involved in the search. The search occupied only a small part of the narrative and even then those parts plodded along at a snail pace. I know I am in the minority based on all the glowing reviews, but this story did not do it for me. The entire story fell flat. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mary tries to see her children as belonging to God: only borrowed. She and Mathew have agreed, finally, that there will be no more of them."

This is the story of a six-year-old boy, in 1883 in Australia, Denny, who is lost and the whole town starts looking for him in different ways. The story involves his sisters, mother and father, policemen, trackers, maids, farmers and more who all explore their own relationships as the events unfold.

This story was slow for me in the beginning and the atmosphere felt stifling (I'm sure on purpose.) I kept thinking the boy would be ok but then worrying he wouldn't be. As I kept reading I got more and more attached to the characters and I really loved the ending.

A majestic story, beautifully told.

with gratitude to netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing book that brings to life the multigenerational, multiracial voices of an Australian community in the 1870s, brought together over the course of the week by the disappearance of a young boy. McFarlane avoids cliche and the expected, drawing unforgettable characters, especially her women and her Black Australians. Although this is in no way a thriller or a whodunit, I could not put the book down, and was sorry when it was over. One of the best books I've read in 2023 so far.

[fatma]

DNF at 35%

this is not bad, and i do like the writing, but reading it is feeling like such a chore. there are too many characters and i dont really feel attached to any of them to keep going.

[Carol Irvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 and 1/2 stars ⭐️. Love Fiona McFarlane’s books. And if you haven’t read her 1st book “The Night Guest”- it’s one of my favorite books! And I love the book cover and books that take place in Australia 🇦🇺

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the book description said: "strange, vivid sunsets" and "it's haunted by many gods - the sun among them," I expected something strange and maybe even otherworldly, but this novel is nothing like that. It is in fact a rather down to earth rendering of the thoughts of the people of Fairly. Some are more interesting than others and at times I forgot who was who as there are many characters. It was very well-written though and I think it gives a good impression of what late 19th century colonialism in Australia was like. Also, the descriptions of the landscape are beautiful.
All in all, this didn't meet my expectations, but it certainly doesn't mean it's a bad book.
Thank you Macmillan and Edelweiss for the ARC.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really admire ambitious historical fiction. It’s not often what I feel like reading but when I do it’s usually richly rewarding reading. McFarlane covers so much literal and metaphorical ground in this book, she provides multiple perspectives from a huge cast of characters and her commentary on the colonial rendering of the Flinders Ranges landscape is evocative and thought-provoking. When you think of how much she does in this book it’s remarkable that it takes place over just seven days. The colonial imagination loves a story of a missing white child and here McFarlane plays with and seeks to subvert it. Wildly impressive and wise at every turn.