non-fictionFrom the comfort and culture of rural England with its ordered estates and "green lanes and fields", to the dusty heat of a rough, unfloored cabin in outback Queensland — that is just part of the journey Rachel Henning made and reports on in her letters. Yet these reveal no sorry tale of struggle in adversity — amazingly they form a lively adventure story and a vivid family saga. Expertly edited by David Adams, a former editor of the Sydney Bulletin magazine, the collection reads like a novel — partly of courtships and romances, partly of the progress of a pioneering family, and partly of Rachel Henning's own progress towards acceptance of her new way of life. The letters were first published in the Bulletin in 1951 and were so well received that they were quickly presented in book form. Thereafter they have scarcely been out of print and the grace, liveliness and gossipy intimacy of Rachel's prose have earned them a unique place in Australian literature. This edition is illuminated with illustrations of the period - some believed to be by Rachel herself, others by members of her family and others by artists and sketchers who would have been Rachel's contemporaries. Wherever possible, the work of women has been included. Taken from sketchbooks and note pads, their often unfinished images give as intimate a view of life in Australia from the 1850s to the 1880s as do Rachel's letters. (Inside Cover)colonial life, rachel henning, letters