I really liked this book.

A cast of larger than life characters, their dialogue wryly humorous, but sometimes filled with touching pathos.

The hapless ex-convict, Martin Sparrow, indebted and bound to stay at the settlement on the Hawkesbury River, is lured into believing there’s a village beyond the mountains. After the flood ruins the crops on his farm, he plans to escape over the mountains to the paradise he thinks is there. As friends and other acquaintances aid and abet him, he finds himself drawn along on a series of events, the consequences of which are often tragic.