epic novel by Xavier Herbert.
Perhaps Herbert saw himself as Australia’s Dostoyevsky. Capricornia rolls along like a massive, tragic steam powered freight train through northern Australia’s early history. Herbert sees the central issue of Australia being race, and particularly the “half-caste” offspring of aboriginals and white immigrants.
This is a wonderful epic set in a corner of the globe that even Aussies don’t visit that often. And yes, there are steam locomotives in the tale.
