Publication type

non-fiction

Summary

Against Time and Place is a highly imaginative and well-crafted re-creation of a family history which transcends the particular to become a fascinating microcosm of British migration and settlement in Australia. The lives of members of the Booth and Backhouse families unfold against a rich backdrop of places and events, including the coal-mines and tenant farms of Yorkshire; the First World War and the Russian Revolution; the goldrushes, pioneering the wheatbelt and small town life of Western Australia; the Great Depression; the Second World War and its aftermath.
'What Elizabeth Backhouse has done in Against Time And Place is to unravel her family's history and make it live and sing for us all.
The stories told are engaging and varied, ranging from the pastoral to the spine-chilling, and the prose in which they are told is evocative, intimate yet dignified, carrying sometimes the cadences of poetry. Like all the best stories, they reveal much but leave more unspoken, leaving the reader to mull over subtle implications. . .
In all, a delightful and engaging book.'
Kate Veitch (Inside cover)