Colleen McCullough

Author profile

born

June 01, 1937 in Wellington, NSW, Australia

gender

female

About this author

Colleen McCullough AO (born 1 June 1937) is an internationally acclaimed Australian author. Colleen was born in Wellington in central west New South Wales to James and Laurie McCullough.

She grew up during World War II. In her first year of medical studies at the University of Sydney she suffered dermatitis from surgical soap and was told to abandon her dreams of becoming a medical doctor. Instead, she switched to neuroscience and worked in Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. In 1963 she moved to the United Kingdom where she met the chairman of the neurology department at Yale University at the Great Ormond Street hospital in London, who offered her a research associate job at Yale. McCullough spent ten years researching and teaching in th...more

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Books by Colleen McCullough

Average rating: 4.04 · 86,009 ratings · 3,683 reviews · 39 distinct works

	The Thorn Birds 4.08 avg rating — 64,169 ratings — published 1977 — 89 editions	My rating:
	The First Man in Rome (Masters of Rome, #1) 4.00 avg rating — 4,779 ratings — published 1990 — 22 editions	My rating:
	The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome, #2) 4.18 avg rating — 2,366 ratings — published 1991 — 27 editions	My rating:
	Fortune's Favorites (Masters of Rome, #3) 4.21 avg rating — 1,781 ratings — published 1993 — 20 editions	My rating:
	Caesar's Women (Masters of Rome, #4) 4.11 avg rating — 1,663 ratings — published 1996 — 21 editions	My rating:
	Caesar (Masters of Rome, #5) 4.26 avg rating — 1,594 ratings — published 1997 — 24 editions	My rating:
	The October Horse (Masters of Rome, #6) 4.14 avg rating — 1,347 ratings — published 2002 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Antony and Cleopatra (Masters of Rome, #7) 3.79 avg rating — 1,203 ratings — published 2007 — 30 editions	My rating:
	The Ladies of Missalonghi 3.69 avg rating — 1,190 ratings — published 1987 — 21 editions	My rating:
	Morgan's Run 3.78 avg rating — 1,048 ratings — published 2004 — 23 editions	My rating:

More books by Colleen McCullough…

Series by Colleen McCullough

Masters of Rome (7 books)
by Colleen McCullough

4.09 avg rating — 14,705 ratings

Carmine Delmonico (3 books)
by Colleen McCullough

3.25 avg rating — 599 ratings

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Quotes by Colleen McCullough

“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so says the legend.”
― Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds

tags: inspirational , legend

127 people liked it

“There are no ambitions noble enough to justify breaking someone's heart. ”
― Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds

50 people liked it

“When we press the thorn to our chest we know, we understand, and still we do it.”
― Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds

45 people liked it

See all Colleen McCullough's quotes »

Polls

Please vote for the book you'd like to read as a group in April 2010.

Let the Great World Spin byColum McCann

11 votes, 21.6%

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

8 votes, 15.7%

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

7 votes, 13.7%

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

6 votes, 11.8%

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

4 votes, 7.8%

The Road vy Cormac McCarthy

4 votes, 7.8%

The Trial by Franz Kafka

3 votes, 5.9%

The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough

2 votes, 3.9%

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible by A.J. Jacobs

2 votes, 3.9%

Emma Brown by Clare Boylan

2 votes, 3.9%

A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

1 vote, 2.0%

The American Boy by Andrew Taylor

1 vote, 2.0%

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown-Waite

0 votes, 0.0%

Scoundrel and the Optimist by Maceo Montoya

0 votes, 0.0%

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

0 votes, 0.0%

51 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Constant Reader: Novels of Ancient Rome	9	76	Oct 08, 2008 09:19am
Our History: Historical Fiction Advice	15	80	Apr 23, 2009 08:51am
The Next Best Boo...: Men vs. Women	245	441	May 27, 2009 10:15pm
Goodreads Librarians: Translation and Combining help	188	492	Jul 21, 2009 01:45pm
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SUMMER CHALLENGE 2009	6757	10108	Aug 31, 2009 10:23pm
The Next Best Boo...: 5 Star Reads	422	2142	Sep 10, 2009 12:29pm
What's The Name o...: SOLVED! Older woman (stroke victim) loved by younger man [s]	5	45	Oct 11, 2009 06:35pm
The Seasonal Read...: WENDY'S TASK - WINTER VACATION DREAMS	69	153	Nov 28, 2009 08:41pm

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Colleen McCullough

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Colleen McCullough

Series by Colleen McCullough

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Colleen McCullough

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Colleen McCullough