Author: E. V. Timms
Binding: Hardback
Published: Angus and Robertson, 1948

Condition:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Faded cloth. Slight lean to book. Clean text.

This sweeping historical novel inaugurates E.V. Timms’s acclaimed Great South Land Saga, chronicling the perilous 1831 voyage of the London Lass from England to the Swan River settlement in Western Australia. Timms presents a vivid cast of emigrants—ambitious, desperate, noble, and flawed—whose intersecting fates reflect the raw tensions of colonial expansion. He illustrates the brutal realities of frontier life, the clash of class and character aboard ship, and the emotional toll of forging new identities in an unforgiving land. With dramatic pacing and richly drawn settings, the novel captures the spirit of early Australian settlement while confronting the personal costs of ambition and displacement. Originally published in Britain as The Violent Years, it remains a cornerstone of mid-century Australian historical fiction.