I picked up The overlanders from the Virago TBR pile for something a bit different - I'm sure it's not the case, but it feels like I am overwhelmed with a pile of Victorian VMCs to read. It's an unusual book since it followed a film, which Birtles helped to write - the film certainly doesn't seem to be available anymore, but there is some information about it on IMDB here.
Set in the Australian outback during the Second World War, it tells the story of what happens as the Japanese start to try to take over areas of the country, and a trek made by one man, Dan McAlpine, with 15,000 cattle to Queensland, to make a place where food can be provided for the Australians. Dan is joined by the Parsons family - Ma, Pa, Mary and Helen who want to escape the bombing even though they have built up their home and business in the Northern territory. What amazing characters Mary and Helen proved to be - exactly the sort of young women that make Virago Modern Classics worth reading, strong, full of character. I loved the descriptions of the riding and the herding of cattle that they get involved with, but at the same time there is the sobering realisation that the people of Australia faced many of the same fears of bombs and war as people did in Europe.
It's Birtle's only novel and it has been published just the once by Virago with this original green cover.
Coincidentally, I just managed to find a copy of this earlier in the week, after many years of searching. I'm not sure I even need to carry my list of missing VMCs anymore; so many of them have been so hard to find for so long that I think I've memorized most of their titles, and I plucked this one off the shelf like it was made of gold.
ReplyDeleteThis is one I keep finding, I eventually gave in and bought a copy because it reminded me of the plot for 'Australia'...
ReplyDeleteI bought this book purely because it was a Virago and was a bit disappointed when I realised it was set in Australia as that didn't appeal to me, but I really enjoyed it. It just hadn't dawned on me that they must have been terrified of being invaded during the war.
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