The Far-Back Country

A superbly written and compelling novel about the bonds of family and home set against the outback landscape.

In 1979, at the age of fourteen, Ray McCullough ran away from his home on a western New South Wales sheep property following a violent confrontation with his dad, Jim McCullough. He left behind his mother, Delly, and his sisters, Ursula and Tilda.

Now forty-one, Ray works as an itinerant cook and labourer across the remote outback. A practical man in love with history and landscape, Ray leads a solitary life, convinced he's inherited Jim's streak of violence. Ray has spent his life running away from memories of family and home.

When the body of a man is found in a country pub along with Ray's identification, Ursula believes that she can finally lay to rest the search that has defined most of her adult life. After Ursula collects Ray's belongings, she begins to follow the tracks left by Ray across the far-back country, each one leading her closer to understanding the man he became and why he disappeared all those years ago.

The Far-Back Country is an extraordinary story about memory, mistaken identity, false knowledge and how the idea of family can define us.