{"title":"Roger McDonald","description":"\u003cp\u003eWelcome to the collection of works by the acclaimed Australian author, Roger McDonald. With a distinctive narrative style that captivates readers, McDonald seamlessly weaves historical detail with rich character development in his novels. His work is highly regarded in the \u003cem\u003eGeneral Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e category, making a notable impression with titles such as \u003cem\u003eMr Darwin's Shooter\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Desmond Kale\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMr Darwin's Shooter\u003c\/em\u003e offers a fascinating blend of fiction with biographical elements, as it explores the life and adventures of Syms Covington, an assistant to Charles Darwin. This novel not only engages with the historical journey of discovery but also delves into the profound personal transformations encountered along the way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Desmond Kale\u003c\/em\u003e, McDonald presents an epic tale set in the early days of Australia's colonisation. This book won Roger McDonald the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award. Through vivid storytelling and detailed descriptions, readers are transported to a time of exploration, survival, and complex human experiences in the untamed Australian landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRoger McDonald's novels are perfect for readers who appreciate historical settings, unforgettable characters, and the masterful intertwining of fiction with elements of real-world narratives. Browse this collection to discover the works of an author who invites you to enter worlds both distant and thrillingly familiar.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"mr-darwins-shooter-by-roger-mcdonald-9780143790877","title":"Mr Darwin's Shooter","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the winner of the Miles Franklin Award.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe story of Syms Covington, Darwin's manservant on the Beagle and afterwards.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast century, Charles Darwin set out on a voyage in the Beagle that would change forever the way human history was viewed. It was on this voyage that Darwin collected the information that gave birth to his controversial Theory of Evolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a novel of scientific discovery, of religious faith, of masters and servants, and of the endless wonder of the natural world. But its greatest triumph is Covington himself, the boy who looked up at the beckoning figure of a yellow-haired Christian in the stained glass window in his boyhood church of Bedford, and sought to follow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe leaves Bedford as a lad of 13 and goes to sea with the evangelical sailor John Phipps and becomes one of Phipps' 'lads'. But Phipps' catechising can't repress Covington's passage into manhood, nor prevent him from chasing the exotic native maidens of Tierra del Fuego. When next he returns to sea, it is to serve on the Beagle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMr Darwin's Shooter\u003c\/em\u003e re-creates the voyage of the Beagle, where Covington spends time exploring—and collecting specimens—inland. We travel on to the Galapagos Islands, with their huge turtles, armadillos, and remarkable finches. Years later, in Sydney's Watson's Bay in beset middle age, Covington awaits the arrival of the first copy of Darwin's \u003cem\u003eThe Origin of Species\u003c\/em\u003e, which contains the scandalous theory of evolution. What part of his life might be in it? What truths may it contain? How can one man absorb the meaning of Creation?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46550060335340,"sku":"9780143790877","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4624963482239.jpg?v=1749951228"},{"product_id":"the-ballad-of-desmond-kale-by-roger-mcdonald-9781741661392","title":"The Ballad of Desmond Kale","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWinner of the Miles Franklin Award.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1800s, out of the prison society of governors, redcoats, English gaolers, Irish convicts, and the few free settlers of Botany Bay, no one had ventured much farther inland than a few dozen miles from Sydney. Or so it was believed until the escape of Desmond Kale and the vengeance of his rival, the wildly eccentric parson magistrate Matthew Stanton.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Desmond Kale\u003c\/em\u003e is a broad-sweeping novel of the first days of British settlement in Australia. At the centre is Stanton's pursuit of Kale — an Irish political prisoner and a rebelliously brilliant breeder of sheep. The alchemy of wool fascinates, threatens, and transforms when it is discovered that fine wool thrives in New South Wales as nowhere else in the world, producing veritable gold on sheep's backs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Desmond Kale\u003c\/em\u003e is both a love story of unusual interest and an epic novel of greed, ambition, conceit, and redemption. The novel is rich in its characterisations and the rawness of its settings, vigour of language, and vividness of personality. The action moves from the early Australian bush to the halls of Westminster, the mills of Yorkshire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46671638102252,"sku":"9781741661392","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2515603482808.jpg?v=1752822535"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/roger-mcdonald.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}