A cracking tale in the style of a Wilbur Smith classic
I can see why this book was the winner of the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation's Best Unpublished Manuscript 2018 as it's very much in the same style as some of Wilbur's work.
Toby lives with his parents in the Australian outback and life is good - until a rogue criminal, Anderson, shoots his parents in front of him and renders his younger brother, Paddy, mute.
To compound matters their greedy next door neighbour conspires to trick them out of their land/home as he wants their spring and it's essential water supply for himself.
The brothers quickly have to adjust to their new circumstances and decide to head for the gold fields in the hope of making their fortune.
On the way they assist Frank and his family and they all join forces to work together.
Life is tough in the gold fields and it certainly doesn't seem as though their financial salvation is going to be found in the ground.
However, whilst they're trying to scratch a living, Anderson is becoming a highly wanted man and the government is offering a huge reward for his capture.
Is Toby's destiny to come full circle?
This is a real page turner of a book with plenty of ups and downs. The characters are all really relatable and the author does an excellent job of portraying just how hard the early settlers had it in Australia (and how unfairly the native aborigines were treated too).
Classic adventure stuff - probably liable to have more appeal to a male readership as this genre generally tends to pitch in their direction. I'm no bloke though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Toby lives with his parents in the Australian outback and life is good - until a rogue criminal, Anderson, shoots his parents in front of him and renders his younger brother, Paddy, mute.
To compound matters their greedy next door neighbour conspires to trick them out of their land/home as he wants their spring and it's essential water supply for himself.
The brothers quickly have to adjust to their new circumstances and decide to head for the gold fields in the hope of making their fortune.
On the way they assist Frank and his family and they all join forces to work together.
Life is tough in the gold fields and it certainly doesn't seem as though their financial salvation is going to be found in the ground.
However, whilst they're trying to scratch a living, Anderson is becoming a highly wanted man and the government is offering a huge reward for his capture.
Is Toby's destiny to come full circle?
This is a real page turner of a book with plenty of ups and downs. The characters are all really relatable and the author does an excellent job of portraying just how hard the early settlers had it in Australia (and how unfairly the native aborigines were treated too).
Classic adventure stuff - probably liable to have more appeal to a male readership as this genre generally tends to pitch in their direction. I'm no bloke though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.