Bettany's Book is classic Keneally - long, broad and impossible to categorize (there are books within the book). This novel shows the author of Schindler's Ark again addressing issues of compassion and suffering with great understanding and a compelling sense of period and place. Both rural Australia and the nation of Sudan are vividly brought to life, and the parallels and intricacies that cross between the stories make this story both thought-provoking and intelligent. You'll need time to plow through it all but should be satisfied at the end.
I have liked all of the Keneally books I have read but this one was lacking the usual flair. It was too disjointed. The modern story although compelling based in the Sudan was weak due to a weak central character. The story about New South Wales was strong and could have made the book by itself, but was interrupted by these two sisters who did not engender any sympathetic feelings from me. The people around them did but they did not. Their blandness ruined the book for me, it's only saving grace was the historical journal.
