This book picks up a few years after the first book Cry of the Curlew and is every bit as good, maybe even a bit better. We follow the lives of the Duffy and the MacIntosh families.

The Duffy family are Irish, they are working class people running a pub in Sydney. The MacIntosh family are a quite rich land owning family that have come over from England. The two families are constantly crossing paths and are bitter enemies, both of them affected by a terrible Aboriginal curse.

We also follow the story Wallerie. An aboriginal who has been present in the lives of these two families and is notorious for his involvement with bushranger Tom Duffy.

I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read more. There are some decidedly evil characters that I would never want to come across. There are some other interesting characters that at times can be very good and at other times very wicked. ( )