First in the Field, by George Manville Fenn.
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Here we have another Manville Fenn book, full of realistic characters
who get into positions of great suspense--the usual formula for this
excellent author.
The time of the story is the early part of the nineteenth century, and
the place is, for most of the book, a sheep and cattle station in New
South Wales. The owner is a former Doctor who had practised in London,
and who had driven himself to illness with his work: the only
possibility for him was a new outdoor life. There are various people
working on the farm, including three "tame" aborigines; old Samson,
full of wisdom; Brookes, a younger farm-servant; and Mayne, known as
Leather, who is a convict whose good behaviour so far has meant that he
can be trusted to work on a farm. There are also Mrs Braydon, and Nic's
two sisters, Nic being the protagonist of the story.
Nic, who had been left behind aged ten in an English suburban boarding
school, is collected from there when he was fifteen, and brought out to
Australia on the Northumbrian, an East Indiaman. After an "uneventful"
voyage, they arrive in Sydney. The main part of the book concerns the
doings of Nic and the farm workers on The Bluff, along with some
upsetting interventions from the man farming a nearby sheep and cattle
station, The Wattles.
As always, a dramatic story, well worth reading or listening to.
NH
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