Blood in the Dust is an utterly compelling read. The author has such an amazing talent for painting the experience of the wave of immigrants into the continent of Australia in the 1800s. The book cleverly is written in two quite distinct narratives initially, which intertwine as the novel progresses; that of a farmer's son who has experienced the most tragic of robberies and is now set on a new path and that of a young girl, taking her first steps into the new continent after travelling from Great Britain to find prosperity in a land of new opportunities and gold nuggets that can be found in the dirt beneath your feet. I couldn't put the book down and, as someone who wouldn't regularly choose this genre, would thoroughly recommend the novel.