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BETTANY'S BOOK by Thomas Keneally (Sceptre, 16.99) THOMAS KENEALLY is fascinated by the moral roots and shifting perspectives of history. From Joan of Arc in Blood Red Sister Rose to civil war in Confederates to the Booker Prize-winning Schindler's Ark, his latest offering is no less ambitious and encompassing in its themes and preoccupations: namely, the making of Australia.
Prim and Dimp are orphaned sisters. At the start of her career, Dimp produces a cult movie about early Australia, only for her inspiration then to run dry. Instead, she agrees to marry Bren, a Roman Catholic industrialist with mining interests.
Two things happen to mar a tranquil future.
She meets Bren's first wife and is given Bettany's Book, the journal of her great, great-grandfather who settled in New South Wales, in which he describes the struggle to build up the sheep farm and also includes the letters of the beautiful, spirited convict, Sarah - whom...