'A blazing mystery . . . tremendous' Guardian'Moving and masterful' Daily Mail'Masterful
storytelling' Washington Post'Brilliant fresh and compulsively readable. It is marvellous' Ann
Patchett'Remarkable' Harper'sA MASTERFUL NOVEL BY THE PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE NIGHT GUEST
AND THE HIGH PLACES AN EPIC TALE OF UNSETTLEMENT HISTORY MYTH LOVE AND ART. In September
1883 a small town in the South Australian outback huddles under strange vivid sunsets.
Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm and the entire community is
caught up in the search for him. As they scour the desert and mountains for the lost child the
residents of Fairly - newlyweds landowners farmers mothers artists Indigenous trackers
cameleers children schoolteachers widows maids policemen - confront their relationships
with each other and with the ancient landscape they inhabit. The colonial Australia of The Sun
Walks Down is unfamiliar multicultural and noisy with opinions arguments longings and
terrors. It's haunted by many gods - the sun among them rising and falling on each day in
which Denny could be found or lost forever. 'McFarlane's treatment of the dust storm has a
simple Steinbeckian majesty . . . Her prose is full of detail comparable to Claire Keegan's
keen-eyed novellas Foster and Small Things Like These' Sunday Times'A thrilling success . . .
full of mystery and wonder' Wall Street Journal'Fiona McFarlane's last book was scintillating.
The Sun Walks Down is even better' Sarah Moss'Gorgeous storytelling and superb characters . . .
magnificent' Michelle de Kretser'I can't think of another writer working today who I admire
more' Kevin Powers
