The Thorn Birds traces the lives of the members of the Cleary family over the course of three generations, from their poor existence in New Zealand to their eventual move to Australia when a distant relative summons them and promises them a more stable life. Ralph's course moves him a long way indeed, from a remote Outback parish to the halls of the Vatican; and Meggie's except for a brief and miserable marriage elsewhere, is fixed to the Drogheda that is part of her bones - but distance does not dim their feelings though it shapes their lives.

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, Maeve Binchy - Waterstones

or rather a story fashioned through the entries in a diary beginning on January 1st 1960 and continuing with regular entries until May 1961. The instant change of pace to a rollicking read meant I finished this book in a few days; work commitments got in the way of it being any quicker. As Meggie tends his wounds, their passion is reignited, but again Ralph rebuffs Meggie, and he remains at Drogheda only long enough to conduct the funerals.Mary Carson, motivated by jealousy mingled with Machiavellian cruelty, devises a plan to separate Ralph from Meggie by tempting him with a high place in the church hierarchy. I read Colleen McCullough's Angel as part of a reading challenge, after giving up temporarily on her ponderous First Man in Rome. In a down reading year, an epic family saga was just what I needed to push away the reading doldrums. It is a book about ordinary people living ordinary lives, and sometimes deliberately causing themselves pain: hence the reference to the thorn bird, which pierces its breast on a rose thorn as it sings, and dies. 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 1915 to 1969.

The Thorn Birds Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary

Their friendship becomes the most important thing in her life and is on the verge of becoming something more when tragedy strikes.

Maybe I'm just out of practice, but there was no sense of an author dictating or pushing the characters towards certain goals. The Thornbird pays it's life for that one song, and the whole world stills to listen, and God in his heaven smiles, as it's best is brought only at the cost of great pain; Driven to the thorn with no knowledge of the dying to come.

Thorn Birds, Used - AbeBooks The Thorn Birds, Used - AbeBooks

I don't like it when heroines in historical fiction are feisty and progessive without any REASON to be.

At one point they meet the priest, he is like "fuck your hair is sexy darlin'" ignoring the fact she is Nine. However, it consistently pops up on my feed due to other friends reading it and I felt it was high time to explain my 5 Star rating (and Tadiana’s review of a different book added some inspiration). 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 1915 to 1969. Internally mint without inscriptions or dedications; lavishly illustrated with superb colour and b/w photographs.