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Dark,
Eleanor.
NO
BARRIER
Sydney,
Collins,
1953.
384
pages,
hardcover,
dustwrapper
torn,
owners
signature
on
endpaper,
otherwise
a
good
copy.
With
"The
Timeless
Land"
and
"Storm
of
Time"
this
completes
the
trilogy
based
on
the
settlement
of
NSW.
First
edition
505
grams
In
No
Barrier
Mrs.
Eleanor
Dark
continues
her
series
of
romantic
historical
novels
dealing
with
the
foundation
and
settlement
of
Australia,
which
began
with
The
Timeless
Land
and
was
continued
so
successfully
in
Storm
of
Time.
In
this
new
volume
we
follow
the
fortunes
of
the
Mannion
family
after
the
Bligh
Rebellion,
through
the
early
years
of
the
administration
of
Lachlan
Macquarie,
until
the
year
1814,
when,
with
the
discovery
of
a
route
over
the
Blue
Mountains
by
Blaxland,
Lawson
and
Wentworth,
and
the
building
of
the
first
road
by
William
Cox,
there
is
henceforth
No
Barrier
to
the
extension
of
settlement
to
the
west
Though
this
is
an
historical
novel,
factually
correct
in
every
detail,
it
is
no
dull
narrative
of
mere
event,
but
a
lively,
quick-moving
narrative,
crammed
with
exciting
incidents,
where
the
characters,
both
historical
and
fictional,
move
across
Mrs.
Dark's
vast
stage
with
all
the
convincing
reality
of
a
cinema
film.
The
magic
of
Mrs.
Dark's
pen
makes
the
past
live
again
in
this
Australian
epic
Dominating
the
story
is
Governor
Lachlan
Macquarie,
Macquarie
the
Builder,
with
the
gentle
Elizabeth,
his
wife,
in
the
feminine
supporting
role.
Both
are
drawn
to
the
life.
In
No
Barrier
you
will
rub
intimate
shoulders
with
all
the
local
Blue-bloods,
and
many
that
are
not
so
blue:
military
officers
and
government
officials,
lawyers
and
surgeons,
merchants
and
landowners,
rum-dealers
and
traffickers,
emancipists
and
convicts,
they
are
all
here
You
will
enjoy
meeting
the
Bent
brothers,
perpetual
thorns
in
the
Governor's
side,
Simeon
Lord,
the
Merchant
Prince
of
Botany
Bay,
Andrew
Thompson,
who
left
a
quarter
of
his
wealth
to
Macquarie,
John
and
Elizabeth
Macarthur,
George
Howe,
the
Printer,
Doctors
Redfern,
Wentworth,
Arnold
and
Townson,
Mary
Putland
and
her
new
husband,
Colonel
O'Connell,
Michael
Massey
Robinson,
Macquarie's
Laureate,
the
Blaxlands,
Palmers,
Patersons,
Antills
and
their
respective
ladies,
to
mention
just
a
few
in
the
great
Colonial
galaxy
of
1810
and
onwards.
Chief
interest,
however,
centres
naturally
round
the
Mannions
of
Beltrasna,
especially
the
Irish-born
Conor,
bride,
stepmother,
twice
a
mother,
and
in
1819
a
widow,
following
on
the
murder
of
her
husband
by
Johnny,
now
gone
native,
the
red-headed
son
of
Ellen
Prentice,
who
went
to
the
gallows
for
his
crime,
the
aftermath
of
which
is
vividly
described
in
No
Barrier
You
will
follow
with
interest
the
complications
of
the
plot:
the
love
story
of
Conor
and
the
Dobbin-like
schoolmaster
Mark
Harvey;
the
sordid
affair
of
the
moody
Patrick
with
the
young
native
girl
Dilboong,
and
the
subsequent
tragic
issue;
the
arrival
from
England
of
Miles
Mannion
and
his
pink-and-white
bride,
the
neglected,
discontented
and
disillusioned
Laetitia,
with
its
far-reaching
consequences;
Miles's
adventures
with
Johnny
Prentice
in
the
Blue
Mountain
fastnesses,
when
planning
to
anticipate
Blaxland
Lawson
and
Wentworth
by
first
crossing
the
Ranges;
the
story
of
the
unfortunate
Orphanage
girl
Emily,
her
marriage
with
the
sadistic
Dean,
the
murder
of
the
latter,
and
her
abduction
by
the
murderer,
a
fine
piece
of
descriptive
writing
The
unexpected
conclusion
of
this
great
historical
novel
is
a
fine
testimony
to
Mrs.
Darks
skill
as
an
artistic
plot-maker
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