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Genre -Australian Fiction
A beautiful classic and a must for all who have not read this Australian book, which was made into a film and highly acclaimed in its own right.
Bojan Buloh and his very young wife of 16, Maria, and their baby, emigrated from Slovenia to Tasmania. Having fled the atrocities of German soldiers, families, Bojan is haunted by these circumstances for the rest of his life and made him a drunkard. He worked as the lowest of migrants in building the Tasmania Hydro dam. Always able to use his hands with wood and the love of the Australian different species of wood, helped him build furniture and make a bit of money to survive. He is left to raise his daughter Sonja who eventually fled to Sydney and some thirty five years later, Sonja visits her father who is a drunkard.
One cannot imagine the hardship during the times of construction of the dam and later the Hydro scheme, that these poor migrants went through and how badly they were accepted into the Australian way of life. Charity was poor and each for his own.
A wonderful read which leaves you appreciating the uphill battle migrants’ face when arriving into a new country and their stoic pride to keep going for their future generations
---- Reviewed by Judy, Rowville Bookchat
