From the first few pages Stephen Orr's latest novel, The Hands, cuts to the core of life on the parched land of Australia's interior.
It's where the Wilkie family has wrestled with the land for six generations. These days trying desperately to cling to a living as beef shorthorn producers.
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In the opening pages 11-year-old Harry is more eager to help his dad, Trevor, with the border fences than to go inside for a lesson on Egypt.
But it is a tragic car accident in the bush after a day of fun at a School of Air picnic that changes life forever for the Wilkie family.
"But Chris was thinking about it differently: how they used to form groups and laugh or discuss cattle prices; how there was always a buzz; how Carelyn always seemed to be the centre of everything..."
Written in sharp, punchy sentences The Hands is a novel that will have readers in awe of how anyone can survive "out there", let alone make a living.
The Hands, $29.95, Wakefield Press,
