Its publisher, William Heinemann Ltd, claimed on the jacket to the 1965 edition, "This is now recognized as one of the greatest novels in the English language."

It was acclaimed for its rich characterizations and then-startling depiction of mental illness attacking an otherwise respectable person, while his much-younger wife, who does not think herself clever, must become resourceful with a high-level of uncomfortable capability.

An early American edition of the book contained an introduction by Sinclair Lewis in which he erroneously claimed that Richardson's true name was Henrietta, with no mention of Ethel.

"Australia Felix" is a description used by explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836 for the lush plains he discovered between the Murray River and the south coast of Victoria, including the area that later became the site of Ballarat.

Nine chapters and a prologue introducing us to Dr. Richard Townshend-Mahony, F.R.C.S., M.D., Edinburgh, for two years the proprietor of Diggers' Emporium in Ballarat township, near Melbourne, which he runs with his assistants Long Jim and Ebenezer Hempel.

The sisters are virtually indistinguishable save for their eye color, and they insist on mispronouncing Richard's surname "Ma-hon-y", though the accent is supposed to be on the first syllable.

John and his beautiful wife Emma are unable to attend when the latter falls ill. Also arriving for the wedding is Polly's older sister, Sarah.

Mahony does indeed become more and more successful, and Mary becomes deeply involved in the preparations for a gala to raise money for a statue of Burke and Wills.

And when Mary is mistakenly delivered an invitation to a party at "the Hall", the finest house in the town, that was intended for a woman living in a shanty down the road, he becomes convinced that he can have no success in England, and decides he must return again to Australia.

Mary can never respect his wishes not to be disturbed, never getting past the point of view that books are to pass the time, not essential mental exercise as they are to Richard.

Richard, though he had wanted children before, is now less than enthusiastic about the intrusion onto his reading time, but does his best to accommodate the idea, and the child is baptized Cuthbert Hamilton Townshend-Mahony.

Richard considers it important for the children's development for them to see Europe, but in order to do so, he sells the house for some inexplicable reason.

He can afford to live off a great investment and eventually return, having disliked England so much on his previous visit, but his new broker, Wilding, absconds with the funds, and the Mahonys must immediately make their way back to Australia.

Emmy becomes interested in Reverend Mr. Angus, who shows her a dead donkey in a pit near the lagoon that Cuffy can't wait to see, even though he is not allowed.

Richard becomes obsessed with the idea that he has seen Lallie's spirit visit him, and that she informed him about her expensive wax doll with a nose melted in a fire.

All Mahony can argue is that he should go to another doctor to have it corrected, as it's not an exact science, he was working under less than optimal conditions, and surgery was never his greatest strength as a physician.

[2]: 743  Mary wants him to go to Narrong, but Dr. Bowes-Smith advises that he go to Shortlands, which he believes will be better suited for the benefit of his mental health.

Richard has to be institutionalized—his status as a doctor getting a fifty percent discount—and Mary is advised to go to work as a postmistress, though it involves mingling with a lower class of people.

For this she has to move to Gymgurra "in the Western District, some two hundred miles from Melbourne; to be reached either by night's sea voyage--round Cape Otway and along the wild coast--or by a combined train and coach journey".

After settling in her postmistress job, Mary saves up for a trip to Melbourne to pay a surprise visit to the hospital to determine the sort of care Richard is receiving.

She learns that his personal foibles have not been attended to: he has been throwing his meals back at his keeper because they are served to him on tin plates rather than china.

Feeling he can never get well in such conditions, she asks Henry Ocock to arrange for her to remove him from the hospital and takes him to their new home at the post office, hiring Mrs.

Finally, he is confronted with the murderous nightmare, an image to long haunting his dreams and memories, such that seeing any body stretched out face down in the road could send him into fits, when he and Lucie are unable to stop a fall from which Richard cannot get up, and gets him laughed at for drunkenness by a passerby.

Home in bed, gangrene sets in, and quickly renders the lower half of his body completely useless.

[2]: 827  Cuffy feels a mixture of relief, albeit guilty, and upset, then begging for his return, even though his experience with Lallie made clear to him that he wasn't.

"[2]: 831 MGM announced plans to film the novel in 1946 with Greer Garson and Gregory Peck pencilled in as stars to be produced by Pandro S. Berman, but no movie resulted.

[6][7] For decades, Phillip Adams has wanted to bring Richard Mahony to the screen, and has often spoken about it with director Bruce Beresford.

[citation needed] A television miniseries was announced around 1985 and is mentioned on the jacket of Karen MacLeod's Henry Handel Richardson: A Critical Study.

[8] One of the characters in David Williamson's play, Emerald City (1987), mocks the production's failure to find funding.

in 2002 Currency Press published a theatrical adaptation of the novel, written by Australian playwright Michael Gow.