One hundred and fifty years after the establishment of land-based whaling in Australia, its last outpost is Angelus, a small town already struggling for survival. Long-dormant passions are awakened by the arrival of the conservationists, who threaten the town's livelihood and disturb the fragile peace under which its inhabitants live.

`Full of strikingly described action . . . an imaginative reconstruction of primitive whaling and the personal suffering involved . . . Tim Winton, in this admirable novel, deals with pride, loneliness, longing for love and the struggle between nostalgic heroes and the heroism of compassion' The Times

`All this is dazzling, dazzling. It makes the heart pound' Los Angeles Times

`A moving and powerful elegy . . . Winton writes vividly, and with courage, about serious matters in a cynical world' Observer

`A major work by anyone's standards . . . mysterious, painful and beautiful' Washington Post