A Bitter Harvest
The Age
Saturday January 10, 2009
A Bitter Harvest
Peter Yeldham Penguin, $24.95 PETER Yeldham has enjoyed a long and successful career as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He has penned a number of popular miniseries: 1915, Captain James Cook, All The Rivers Run - and it's a legacy that looms large in his historical novels. A Bitter Harvest (1997) is a sweeping costume melodrama that moves between Sydney and the Barossa Valley, spanning a period from the late 19th century to World WarI. Senator William Patterson has left behind a shady past, rising to a position of great wealth and power. When his daughter, Elizabeth, falls in love with Stefan, a poor German lad, the stage is set for a lasting family feud. Yeldham has a rather cinematic prose style. He's a disciplined writer, though - the visual descriptions are never overbearing, and dovetail with his flair for episodic drama. The novel doesn't have the depth or historical sensitivity of more literary fiction, but is sure to be attractive to admirers of, say, Bryce Courtenay.
© 2009 The Age
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