The thorn birds : a novel

In the rugged Australian Outback, three extraordinary generations of Cleary's live through joy and sadness, bitter defeat and magnificent triumph - driven by their dreams, sustained by remarkable strength of character...and torn by dark passions, violence and a scandalous family legacy of forbidden love. "Beautiful....Compelling entertainment." #8212;New York Times One of the most beloved novels of all time, The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough's sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback, returns to enthrall a new generation. The Thorn Birds is a chronicle of three generations of Clearys#8212;an indomitable clan of ranchers carving lives from a beautiful, hard land while contending with the bitterness, frailty, and secrets that penetrate their family. It is a poignant love story, a powerful epic of struggle and sacrifice, a celebration of individuality and spirit. Most of all, it is the story of the Clearys' only daughter, Meggie, and the haunted priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart#8212;and the intense joining of two hearts and souls over a lifetime, a relationship that dangerously oversteps sacred boundaries of ethics and dogma. "A heart-rending epic...truly marvelous." #8212;Chicago Tribune Now, 25 years after it first took the world by storm, Colleen McCullough's sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback returns to enthrall a new generation. As powerful, moving, and unforgettable as when it originally appeared, it remains a monumental literary achievement--a landmark novel to be read ... and read again! The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. Set primarily on Drogheda – a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback named after Drogheda, Ireland – the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans the years 1915 to 1969. The saga of three generations of a remarkable family in the rugged Australian Outback On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday.