The novel is set in a remote Anglican mission in the Kimberley in the far north of Western Australia.

The protagonist is Heriot - based partially on the figure of Ernest Gribble - the principal chaplain of the mission, who commits an act of violence against an Aboriginal man, and who subsequently disappears into the wilderness.

[6] Text Publishing, in its republishing Australian novels, produced their edition in 2015.

Indeed the power of Stow’s prose is the equal of anyone’s from Patrick White to Christina Stead; it is exquisite in its sparseness, precision and surprising beauty.

The frankness and difficulty of the subject matter is counter-balanced by the splendour of Stow’s memorable turns of phrase.