The gaining, the maintaining, and the keenly felt loss of power combined to form the overarching theme of the work, and so magnificently did the novel explore its subject, with madness, murders and scheming by the score.Ĭolleen McCullough’s weighty tome of Rome.Ī better novel on power I have not read since – or rather a better series of novels. The reason First Man gained Our Col a whole new fan base was this: it was an epic excursion in power. I was one of them, and so, I’m led to believe, were several US Presidents, inhaling or otherwise, along with prime ministers various from Blighty to Oz. Fortunately, legions of about-to-be-fans who wouldn’t have touched The Thorn Birds wearing asbestos gloves discovered she’d produced a masterpiece. The proof was in the penning and publishing of The First Man in Rome.Ī more starkly different book she could not have given us and legions of Thorn Birds fans thought she’d gone off in the sun. Way back in 1990 our very own Colleen McCullough – that earthy Norfolk Islander famed for her bestselling cassock-ripper The Thorn Birds (1977) – declared to the world there was more to her mettle than forbidden-love-with-a-dog-collar. See the end of this article for information on how to get involved. If you had to argue for the merits of one Australian book, one piece of writing, what would it be? Welcome back to our occasional series in which our authors make the case for a work of their choosing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |