“There was dusk, a ruffled blue moment when earth released its grip on the heat. There was sunrise, that same heat blooming from a low spine of hills. There were stars wheeling frozen round the tiny hinge of his firelight, the only certain thing. Even the hardest hottest day out here had the ghost of a curve to it, when held against another, in the long glitter of a week.”

The Far-Back Country is the third novel by Australian author, Kate Lyons. In December 2006, Ray McCullough is at the end of a fencing job when he learns that Delly has died. It’s almost Christmas when he heads for Twenty Bends, to the family he has not seen for almost thirty years, but picking up young Mick Jones along the road means a detour to Bourke. What he finds there is disturbing, but at his family’s old homestead, he’s in for even more of a shock.

Ursula McCullough has had to cope with her mother, Delly’s death and getting her elderly, fractious father resituated, while looking after her unstable younger sister, Tilda. Returning to her childhood home once again has Ray filling her thoughts and, despite the hassles it caused, the parade of desperates trying to cash in on her hopes, she’s not sorry she placed the newspaper ad. Then she gets a call from a hospital in western NSW, asking her to confirm that the recently deceased man they have there is her brother. Of course, she goes.

The two narratives cover events in Ray and Ursula’s present-day lives, but those events draw forth memories of earlier times, of what happened back when Ray was fourteen, and the life that they have each led from then on. Echoes from one narrative sound in the other; there are common threads, though certain memories of past occurrences are perhaps dismissed as aberrations of an erratic mental state. Tilda ought not to be underestimated...

For the astute reader, the family secret will be obvious well before it is revealed about a third in, but this does not diminish the pure pleasure of the journey through these marvellous characters’ lives. It pays to notice the small details, because these are the clues that ultimately reveal the what and who and most importantly, the why. It is virtually impossible not to want these two characters to find one another after what they have endured.

Lyons easily evokes the place and time of her settings. The narratives are beautifully woven together, and all of it is wrapped in exquisite descriptive prose. The emotions are almost palpable: anger and frustration, heartache, loneliness, sadness, grief and longing, but also love and hope. And Lyons includes several blackly funny moments for the reader’s enjoyment. This is a story that will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned, and it ends with a feeling of hopeful anticipation. An exceptional read.
This unbiased review from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Allen & Unwin.