Status Updates From Beyond The Black Stump

I don't think Shute understands romance. There is nothing approaching romance here, unless we count Mollie's love of Oldsmobiles. There is no relationship described that sounds warmer than the bond one shares with a pleasant neighbor. And lord, this is racist.

This is extremely slow and meandering, which is fine for me, but I imagine would drive a lot of people mad. The writing is unadorned, the empathy of the author on lovely display at all times.

Mid-century Australians. They're just like us!

A good old-fashioned morality tale. It is interesting to start off on a book that casts a progressive eye on racism at the time (this was published in 1956) and still casually and non-pejoratively uses terms like half-breed and half-caste. Also surprising and moving is the reminder of a world where one act, even a terrible one, was not supposed to define a person's whole life.