From the Bookshelf of Pick-a-Shelf…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
This is a magnificent piece of literature. It is dreamy, poetic and deceptively simple, but beautifully written. The story is fairy-tale like - Holland, wanting to find a husband for his only daughter, Ellen, sets a challenge that anyone who can correctly name the 500+ eucalyptus trees on his property will get her hand. Suitors try and fail until one, Roy Cave, arrives and appears to be the man who can do the job. But in the meantime, Ellen is falling in love with a mysterious stranger, whose na
...more
Winner of the 1999 Miles Franklin Award, Holland takes his daughter to live on a property in New South Wales. Over time, Holland has sourced and planted hundreds of varieties of Eucalyptus trees. As Ellen reaches marriageable age, Holland declares that he will marry her to the man who can name every Eucalyptus on his property. While the suitors try their luck, Ellen meets a stranger near the river. This is an unusual story. A fairy tale moved to the Australian bush, with stories within the story
...more
Wonderful romantic read and I learned a lot about trees and parts of Australia that I didn't know. Rumpelstickson meets the real world (or Australian Bush in this case)!
...more
...more
An ingenious story-telling in using eucalyptus and its hundreds different species. I really dislike the part where she got 'sick' as I never liked it as trope. On the other hand, there is a very fairy-tale feeling throughout the whole thing including the cured-by-story bit at the end. She really is like a princess in a tower but she's just a story-telling tool. Nevertheless, I can't help wishing for a more proactive girl.
...more
Dec 29, 2010
Angela Randall
marked it as to-read
Dec 03, 2017
Lisa Wilkinson
marked it as wishlist
Apr 07, 2019
Carrie
marked it as to-read
