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  • Gripped by Drought

  • Written by: Arthur Upfield
  • Narrated by: John Derum
  • Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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Gripped by Drought

Written by: Arthur Upfield
Narrated by: John Derum
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Publisher's Summary

A powerful story of Australia's great sheep farms from one of our greatest writers. Gripped by Drought is a story of a man's battle not only with the elements of nature which threatened the ruin of his huge Australian sheep-farm, but also with a loveless and unhappy marriage. 

For Frank Mayne, master of well-nigh a million-acre sheep station, life assumed its most dreary aspect. No rain for his farm, a wife who involved him in an orgy of spending and entertainment and with disaster just round the corner, there seemed little prospect of happiness.

Yet in the darkest hour of all, after the many unexpected and sometimes thrilling situations, the darkest hour of the drought gave way to rain and Mayne's tribulations became of the past.
©1932, 2017 William Upfield (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing
Historical Fiction World Literature
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What listeners say about Gripped by Drought

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Profile Image for Jason Campbell

Sad story, love author

frustrating sad emotional story. hard to get to end. 1930 Australian hardcore hardship. thankyou for all hard work.

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    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Emily Robertson

Gripped by imperial England

I was interested in this story because my farm experienced a record breaking drought (like much of North America) in 2021, and I was curious about how ranchers in Australia dealt with (more) severe drought 100 years ago. I was not interested in the fairy tale style of this story, with a wicked queen (the wife), a handsome knight (the brother) and the honorable king (the rancher)... blah, blah, blah. The author's style in writing about these characters and all the other bit part players is very weak compared e.g. to T. H. White (The Once and Future King). There was some interesting coverage of the ranchers' decisions and efforts to deal with the drought, and I appreciated that although it was lacking in practical details. The narrator has good enunciation but didn't have the skill to make bring this rather cartoonish tale to life. Altogether I'm scoring it as Okay but not a great use of 12 hours.

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