The Sundowners (novel)
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First US edition
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| Author | Jon Cleary |
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| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Scribner (US) Werner Laurie (UK) |
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Publication date
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1952 |
The Sundowners is a novel by Australian writer Jon Cleary.
Plot
The story is set in the Australian Outback during the 1920s and deals with one year in the life of the Carmody family. Paddy Carmody, Australian-born son of Irish migrants, is an itinerant worker, travelling the country with his wife Ida and son Sean in a horse-drawn wagon. Whilst Ida longs to settle in a place of their own, Paddy is unwilling to abandon his way of life and continues to pick up work where he can. He takes cattle-droving jobs and also sheep-shearing – which he doesn't like, but pays well.
At one point, he joins a shearing team with Sean as tarboy and Ida as the shearers cook.
They meet various colourful outback characters, ranging from prosperous graziers to drunks, including Rupert Venneker, a well-educated Englishman in self-imposed exile.
Along the way. Sean develops from boy into young man. Venneker marries and settles in a small town. And the Carmodys continue on their way.
Background
The book was based on stories Cleary had been told by his father, who ran away to Queensland when he was a teenager. Additional research was provided by C. E. W. Bean's On the Wool Track.[1] Cleary wrote the novel in long-hand during the evenings after work while he was living in New York working as a journalist, with the manuscript typed out by his wife Joy.[2][3]
Adaptations
The novel was a large success, eventually selling over three million copies, and was well reviewed overseas. It was his second book to be published in the USA.[4]
It was adapted for Australian radio in 1953 (with Rod Taylor playing Paddy),[5] and film rights were purchased by the American producer Joseph Kaufman, then in Australia to make Long John Silver (1954). Kaufman commissioned a script from Australian author Kay Keavney.[3] No movie resulted, but the rights then transferred to Fred Zinneman who directed a film version in 1960.
The character of Sean Carmody later appeared in Cleary's novel The City of Fading Light.[6]
References
- ↑ Susan Geason, 'Jon Cleary: A Fortunate Life', The Sydney Morning Herald, December 06, 1992 p 111
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jon Cleary Interviewed by Stephen Vagg: Oral History at National Film and Sound Archive
- ↑ William du Bois, 'Paddy Was A Nomad: THE SUNDOWNERS' New York Times 9 Mar 1952: BR4
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
- The novel was serialised in the Sydney Morning Herald – Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve
- The Sundowners at AustLit (subscription required)
