Eleanor Dark Libri

Set against the backdrop of Australia's lush yet challenging landscape, the narrative explores the lives of a small farming community battling the invasive lantana weed. Despite their grumblings about the hardships of farming, the residents of Lantana Lane are deeply connected to the land and each other. The story features a diverse cast, including Aunt Isabelle, a unique blend of pioneer and Parisian spirit, and Nelson, a one-eyed kookaburra, highlighting the humor and resilience of community life amidst adversity.

Classic Australian novel of early colonial life in Australia.

It is 1941 and the storm clouds of war gather over Australia. In the mountains outside Sydney the Massey family are reunited by their father's death. Gilbert is a successful novelist, struggling with a writer's block in middle age. A socialist and intellectual, he shares his political understanding - and fears - with his sister Mary and Marxist brother Nick. But he is locked in an unhappy marriage with a woman of little imagination and obsessive respectability, and their daughters, Prue and Virginia, are as incompatible as their parents. With the bombing of Pearl Harbour was becomes a reality, As gilbert and his family are overtaken by the forces of history they must come to terms with their personal and public failures, and watch as the new generation inevitably mirrors the contradictions and turmoil of the old.