Synopsis: Colm McCabe is a child in care in Ireland of the 1950s who is sent to Australia with a promise of a better life. His quick wit, intelligence and fitness enable him to escape a harsh boys' home and find a companion to take care of him on the road - Billy Dare from the previous novel in the 'Children of the Wind' series.

Review: The third book in Murray's 'Children of the Wind' quartet sees Colm clinging to the hope that the mother he vaguely remembers will rescue him from the various cruel institutions to which he is sent. She never materialises and he is sent, as many were in the 1950s, on a boat to Australia, where the children exchange the misery of one institution for another. Colm's sense of justice sees him sent to a particularly harsh centre - Bindoon - and he realises he may end up dead if he does not escape. After a gruelling time alone on the road he comes across a dog that takes to him, and so the owner lets him tag along so that he can at least have food and shelter. The kind stranger is Billy Dare from the previous novel in the series, now an old man trying to come to terms with various unresolved elements of his own life.

Once more Murray gives us a wonderful, convincing story, beautifully told and faithful to the atmosphere of the time. Murray's is a talent to shout about - what a pity we have to wait a while to see these wonderful books in the UK! I am waiting impatiently for the final part of this magnificent quartet.

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2008-06-13