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The Gone Away Man
Lisa is on her way to the remote Australian outback to find her grandfather - her only living relative, But before reaching Pardalote, the cattle station of which she is now part-owner, she first has to pass through Finch's Creek. Here, at the lonely bush hospital on the edge of the outback, she helps the nurses to entertain the patients. And here she comes to know Jim Ransome. He owns the cattle station next door to Pardalote, but he and Lisa's grandfather are sworn enemies.
- GenresRomance
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
28 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Walker
100 books27 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Lucy Walker (1907–1987) was the most famous of a few pseudonyms used by Dorothy Lucie Sanders (née McClemans). She was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 4 May 1907. Her father was of Irish stock, a minister of the Church of England. Her mother was from New Zealand. Dorothy began writing at an early age, despite her father’s scepticism about her ability.
A qualified teacher from Perth College (1928), she taught in state schools in Western Australia until 1936. She continued teaching later in London while her husband, a fellow school teacher whom she married in 1936, completed his doctorate in education.
They returned to Perth, Australia in 1938 but Dorothy Lucie Sanders only began her writing in 1945, producing articles, short stories, and later novels. In 1948 her first novel, Fairies on the Doorstep, was published.
As Lucy Walker, she wrote about 39 romance books:
Fairies On the Doorstep (1948)
Who Leaves the Crowd (1952)
The One Who Kisses (1954)
Sweet and Faraway (1955)
Come Home Dear (1956)
Heaven is Here (1957)
Master of Ransome (1958)
Kingdom of the heart (1959)
The Stranger from the North (1959)
Love in a Cloud (1960)
The Loving Heart (1960)
The Moonshiner (1961)
Wife to Order (1961)
The Distant Hills (1962)
Down in the Forest (1962)
The Call of the Pines (1963)
Follow Your Star (1963)
The Man from Outback (1964)
Reaching for the Stars (1964)
A Man Called Masters (1965)
The Other Girl (1965)
The Ranger in the Hills (1966)
The River Is Down (1967)
Home at Sundown (1968)
The Gone-Away Man (1969)
Shining River (1969)
Six for Heaven (1969)
Joyday for Jodi (1971)
The Bell Branch (1971)
The Mountain That Went to the Sea (1971)
Ribbons In Her Hair (1972)
Pepper Tree Bay (1972)
Pool of Dreams (1973)
Girl Alone (1973)
Monday in Summer (1973)
Runaway Girl (1975)
Gamma's Girl (1977)
So Much Love (1977)
These romance novels were very successful in Australia and overseas. The stories were meticulously researched; the writer travelled extensively in the Western Australian outback, recording details of scenery, personalities and social customs in her notebooks and diaries.
Other pseudonyms used by this author: Shelley Dean, Dorothy Lucie Sanders, and Lucy Walker.
Dorothy Lucie Sanders was widowed in 1986 and died the following year. Her daughter and two sons survived her.
Lucy Walker (1907–1987) was the most famous of a few pseudonyms used by Dorothy Lucie Sanders (née McClemans). She was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 4 May 1907. Her father was of Irish stock, a minister of the Church of England. Her mother was from New Zealand. Dorothy began writing at an early age, despite her father’s scepticism about her ability.
A qualified teacher from Perth College (1928), she taught in state schools in Western Australia until 1936. She continued teaching later in London while her husband, a fellow school teacher whom she married in 1936, completed his doctorate in education.
They returned to Perth, Australia in 1938 but Dorothy Lucie Sanders only began her writing in 1945, producing articles, short stories, and later novels. In 1948 her first novel, Fairies on the Doorstep, was published.
As Lucy Walker, she wrote about 39 romance books:
Fairies On the Doorstep (1948)
Who Leaves the Crowd (1952)
The One Who Kisses (1954)
Sweet and Faraway (1955)
Come Home Dear (1956)
Heaven is Here (1957)
Master of Ransome (1958)
Kingdom of the heart (1959)
The Stranger from the North (1959)
Love in a Cloud (1960)
The Loving Heart (1960)
The Moonshiner (1961)
Wife to Order (1961)
The Distant Hills (1962)
Down in the Forest (1962)
The Call of the Pines (1963)
Follow Your Star (1963)
The Man from Outback (1964)
Reaching for the Stars (1964)
A Man Called Masters (1965)
The Other Girl (1965)
The Ranger in the Hills (1966)
The River Is Down (1967)
Home at Sundown (1968)
The Gone-Away Man (1969)
Shining River (1969)
Six for Heaven (1969)
Joyday for Jodi (1971)
The Bell Branch (1971)
The Mountain That Went to the Sea (1971)
Ribbons In Her Hair (1972)
Pepper Tree Bay (1972)
Pool of Dreams (1973)
Girl Alone (1973)
Monday in Summer (1973)
Runaway Girl (1975)
Gamma's Girl (1977)
So Much Love (1977)
These romance novels were very successful in Australia and overseas. The stories were meticulously researched; the writer travelled extensively in the Western Australian outback, recording details of scenery, personalities and social customs in her notebooks and diaries.
Other pseudonyms used by this author: Shelley Dean, Dorothy Lucie Sanders, and Lucy Walker.
Dorothy Lucie Sanders was widowed in 1986 and died the following year. Her daughter and two sons survived her.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 22, 2021
I found this unreadable. Every single character except the h was evasive and spoke in code. It was chapter after chapter of the h not having a clue about what was going on and everyone feeding her half-truths in the most irritating manner possible.
June 14, 2025
The patriarchy lives and thrives in this story. Holy cow.
Orphaned heroine - age 19 - travels to the outback to connect with her estranged grandfather in a vague hope of an inheritance or home. No one has heard of the Outback station her grandfather owns or can tell her how to get there. She is made welcome at the hospital where she is given a room and a job reading to patients. Here she encounters the hero who is recovering from an eye injury.
Turns out he owns the neighboring station to her grandfather and is grandpa's sworn enemy.
Oh, dear.
The H/h interlude is over when the hero is discharged from the hospital (Gone-Away Man) and the grandfather turns up in an expensive car. They drive across a trackless savannah/grassland to a deep valley and the ancient homestead. Inside, the Mrs. Danvers-type housekeeper barks out orders and her pervy son eyes the heroine over his newspaper.
These people are all horrible and there is a feeling of menance and danger during the entire story.
It doesn't help that the heroine is an innoncent fawn who lapses into periods of disassociation when her emotions are aroused. She tries to hard to ingratiate herself with her "cunning" grandfather and the mean housekeeper. Very cringey.
Meanwhile there are all of these strange undercurrents. There's a telescope pointed at the hero's station. Her grandfather feigns illness and makes many cryptic remarks about alliances, minerals and how he has always manipulated women. The heroine laps it up because he's paying attention to her. The housekeeper and her son watch the heroine like a hawk. It's a you-in-danger-girl vibe for hundreds of pages.
The final straw comes when the heroine meekly allows the housekeeper's son to put her in a car and drive to an unknown city for unknown reasons. The hero chases after them and blocks their path with his car. He orders the heroine out of the car and finally proposes marriage after explaining her inheritence, the grandfather's plans, mineral rights and - oh, yeah almost forgot to mention it - he loves her.
The romance is sweet at the begining and end, but the middle section with the grandfather and housekeeper is weird and annoying. Not one of LW's best.
Orphaned heroine - age 19 - travels to the outback to connect with her estranged grandfather in a vague hope of an inheritance or home. No one has heard of the Outback station her grandfather owns or can tell her how to get there. She is made welcome at the hospital where she is given a room and a job reading to patients. Here she encounters the hero who is recovering from an eye injury.
Turns out he owns the neighboring station to her grandfather and is grandpa's sworn enemy.
Oh, dear.
The H/h interlude is over when the hero is discharged from the hospital (Gone-Away Man) and the grandfather turns up in an expensive car. They drive across a trackless savannah/grassland to a deep valley and the ancient homestead. Inside, the Mrs. Danvers-type housekeeper barks out orders and her pervy son eyes the heroine over his newspaper.
These people are all horrible and there is a feeling of menance and danger during the entire story.
It doesn't help that the heroine is an innoncent fawn who lapses into periods of disassociation when her emotions are aroused. She tries to hard to ingratiate herself with her "cunning" grandfather and the mean housekeeper. Very cringey.
Meanwhile there are all of these strange undercurrents. There's a telescope pointed at the hero's station. Her grandfather feigns illness and makes many cryptic remarks about alliances, minerals and how he has always manipulated women. The heroine laps it up because he's paying attention to her. The housekeeper and her son watch the heroine like a hawk. It's a you-in-danger-girl vibe for hundreds of pages.
The final straw comes when the heroine meekly allows the housekeeper's son to put her in a car and drive to an unknown city for unknown reasons. The hero chases after them and blocks their path with his car. He orders the heroine out of the car and finally proposes marriage after explaining her inheritence, the grandfather's plans, mineral rights and - oh, yeah almost forgot to mention it - he loves her.
The romance is sweet at the begining and end, but the middle section with the grandfather and housekeeper is weird and annoying. Not one of LW's best.
June 19, 2022
The Gone-Away Man.
Nice story,Lisa became a good grand daughter to a frosty man,who underneath kept his caring side under wraps.Nice Sunday read.
Nice story,Lisa became a good grand daughter to a frosty man,who underneath kept his caring side under wraps.Nice Sunday read.
August 29, 2022
The Gone-Away Man: An Australian Outback Romance: As usual Lucy Walker writes about a very young innocent girl and this turns me off. Her love stories are usually more about life in the Australian outback and this she does very well--although she is writing in the 60's and 70's so her heros smoke a LOT and it makes me cringe. Lisa Tonkins is on her way to her grandfather's station but ends up at a stopping point for outback truckers while waiting for someone to pick her up and take her to her grandfather at an unmapped place. While there she ends up helping out in the local hospital with a man, Jim Ransome, who has undergone eye surgery. She spends a week with him until he leaves with another woman. Soon someone does pick her up and brings her to her grandfather--but her welcome is not what she expected.
Girl Alone: Another Sweet Girl Finds Love: Most of Lucy Walker's female heroines are young, innocent and yes, to me, even a little silly. I can't relate to these young girls who fall in love, of course, with the male hero. The men are always silent, dominating, tall and goodlooking. Does she ever have a cool, intelligent female? Marcie Forrester has been alone since her mother died and left her The Breakaway, a coffee stop on the way to the Australian outback. Jard Hunter is a hydrogeologist at the big Mining Exploration Camp and of course our innocent heroine falls for him. Till they get together takes time. A sweet romance.
Girl Alone: Another Sweet Girl Finds Love: Most of Lucy Walker's female heroines are young, innocent and yes, to me, even a little silly. I can't relate to these young girls who fall in love, of course, with the male hero. The men are always silent, dominating, tall and goodlooking. Does she ever have a cool, intelligent female? Marcie Forrester has been alone since her mother died and left her The Breakaway, a coffee stop on the way to the Australian outback. Jard Hunter is a hydrogeologist at the big Mining Exploration Camp and of course our innocent heroine falls for him. Till they get together takes time. A sweet romance.
September 3, 2013
Australian romance set on a station in the Outback
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews