The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Australia Felix; the Way Home; Ultima Thule (Penguin Classics S.) - Tapa blanda

Set in Australia during the gold-mining boom, this remarkable trilogy is a classic of Australian literature. Richardson's great literary achievement, comprising the novels 'Australia Felix', 'The Way Home' and 'Ultima Thule', weaves together many themes. Mahony, despite finding initial contentment with his wife Mary, becomes increasingly dissatisfied with his ordered life. His restlessness is not understood by Mary, who has to endure the constant shattering of her security as Richard desperately attempts to free himself; his attempts finally plunge them into poverty. In the figure of Richard Mahony, Richardson captures the soul of the emigrant, ever restless, ever searching for some equilibrium, yet never really able to settle anywhere.

'Henry Handel Richardson' was the pen-name of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (1870-1946) who was an Australian novelist and short-story writer. Ethel studied music at Leipzig and became a skilled pianist. THE FORTUNES OF RICHARD MAHONY was published in three volumes from 1917 to 1929, and Ethel continued to write until her death in 1946.