River of the Sun [Hardcover]

Patricia Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1992

The story of the Australian Gold Rush unfolds through the eyes of the beautiful housemaid Perfection Middleton, whose husband dies and leaves her in control of a vast estate in the outback.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Swashbuckling romance, hardships and sacrifices, unsuitable attachments and unmitigated greed are among the themes of this well-written historical romance set in the rough and rowdy days of the Australian gold rush. Avoiding the obvious pitfalls and cliches, Shaw has crafted a solid, exciting, well-researched novel with fully developed subplots that blend into a first-rate saga. The beginning is rather improbable: an outback cattle rancher falls in love with young housemaid Perfy Middleton one day, and proposes to her the next. Not long after, he's dead, leaving Perfy heiress to his distant holdings. Accompanied by Diamond, a beautiful aborigine girl, Perfy sets out to claim her inheritance. This involves an arduous trek across the unforgiving Australian countryside to face those avaricious prospectors for whom no sacrifice--and no betrayal--is too great if the end result is a successful claim. Against this savagery is pitted the love of Perfy and the handsome captain of a Chinese junk carrying gold prospectors, and the tender affection between Diamond and her blind brother. Shaw gets it all right, from the questionable backgrounds of the early Australian settlers to the futile nobility of the aborigine tribes whose way of life was about to disappear forever.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Shaw weaves together a colorful tapestry of characters, scenery, and events in this adventurous tale of Australia in the 1860s. There is a broad cross section of people: sailors, former prisoners and their offspring, squatters (ranchers), natives (some friendly, some more fierce), Scots, British, and Chinese all play a part in the settling of the gold coast in Queensland. Although the story centers on two young women, one a housemaid and the other an Aborigine, gold is the true protagonist. It can be picked up by the handful in the Palmer River once those afflicted with gold fever have made their way through the dangerous terrain--mountains inhabited by savage tribes and rivers swarming with hungry crocodiles. In traditional historical saga form, love and hate, good and evil, greed and generosity vie equally for attention. This easy-to-read novel is recommended for public libraries with a demand for the genre.
- Marion Hanscom, SUNY-Binghamton Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 378 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312082843
• ISBN-13: 978-0312082840
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,775,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story, February 25, 2011

By 

Newman (Angels Camp, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of the Sun (Paperback)

This novel was a complete surprise. The characters and the evolution of the story are amazing. There is no sugar coating the life in Australia during the gold rush nor the lines drawn between poor and rich, natives, chinese and whites. The characters are all interesting and the stars are Diamond and Perfection. Around these two women are many years of suffering and their quest to find love and happiness. The twists, turns and adventure are all captivating covering beautiful and harsh land as well as adventure by sea. I recommend this book to anyone who loves history and a true picture of what it took to live during 1860's.