Anderson's aim is to steal the huge amounts of government gold that are being shipped to Melbourne. His Aboriginal crew are caught between his dominance and their traditional beliefs and manage to use their tracking skills and knowledge of the land to keep several steps ahead of any pursuers.
This is enough to give both the gist of Blood in the Dust and its general tone. The main characters are believable and likeable and the description of life at that time and in those places is written with seeming authenticity. The book rattles along and is hard to put down, so that one is very keen for Toby and Paddy to overcome all that life throws at them.
In the end, this is very much a "feel-good" story. Hard work and honesty triumph and, although deaths occur, romance blooms. A bit of luck leads Toby to help in tracking a criminal and knowledge of this leads the Governor of the province to offer him a reward for tracking Anderson and bringing him to justice. And it is a fine chase, leaving behind for a few days the goldfield where the miners have been doing battle with government forces.
It is not a spoiler to say that "all ends happily ever after" because it has to in this type of book. It is well enough done to be both believable and exciting – a fine bit of absorbing, escapist reading.
This is enough to give both the gist of Blood in the Dust and its general tone. The main characters are believable and likeable and the description of life at that time and in those places is written with seeming authenticity. The book rattles along and is hard to put down, so that one is very keen for Toby and Paddy to overcome all that life throws at them.
In the end, this is very much a "feel-good" story. Hard work and honesty triumph and, although deaths occur, romance blooms. A bit of luck leads Toby to help in tracking a criminal and knowledge of this leads the Governor of the province to offer him a reward for tracking Anderson and bringing him to justice. And it is a fine chase, leaving behind for a few days the goldfield where the miners have been doing battle with government forces.
It is not a spoiler to say that "all ends happily ever after" because it has to in this type of book. It is well enough done to be both believable and exciting – a fine bit of absorbing, escapist reading.