Morgan's Run Book

McCullough's Morgan's Run is a massive historical panoply presented to the reader in vivid poster colours, while powerful, larger-than-life characterisation galvanizes a narrative of nigh-operatic proportions. Set once again in Australia, it is a return to the grand level of The Thorn Birds.McCullough's theme is the dispatching of criminals (and other undesirables) from the mother country to the unknown wilds of Australia in the 18th century. The brutality and savagery of the transportation scenes are conveyed with maximum impact, but it is the day-to-day existence of the exiles, abandoned on the inhospitable Australian continent, that most exercises McCullough's imagination.Her protagonist Richard Morgan is an unlikely figure (a convicted felon who is both tough and resourceful but also sensitive and highly educated) but he's just the kind of hero to bestride an adventure of as large a scale as this. As Morgan attempts to deal with both natural disasters and the mendacity and subterfuge of his fellow survivors, we see a microcosm of the hardy society that Australia was to become taking shape before our eyes. The brilliantly realised and fastidiously researched period detail of the epic setting makes this most memorable (reproductions of maps, paintings, ships' plans and other material lends verisimilitude). McCullough has created a yarn that comprehensively grips for all its 600-odd pages; her skill at creating convincing period dialogue being the strong thread that runs throughout: "Your men stay here because I have no other place to stow them," said Sinclair. "As a matter of fact, they are occupying valuable space my firm contracted to fill up with more useful cargo than a lot of thieving, rum-swilling twiddle-poops not clever enough to get into the navy nor rich enough to get into the army. Ye're the entire world's leavings, Ross, you and your marines. Cluttering up my crew's galley, with two dozen dogs - look at my boot! Ye lowlands bastard without a mother!" "Who's the lowlands bastard, ye Glasgow bitch's by-blow?" There was a pause as both the combatants searched wildly for a new and mortally wounding thing to say. --Barry ForshawRead More