"Reading Christopher Lee’s fine study prompted a re-reading of McDonald’s earlier fiction. What a pleasure to rediscover such a cast of quixotic, extreme characters who inhabit those pages. ... Lee’s expansive and insightful survey is underpinned by an analysis of what he sees as ‘the common narrative problem’ in McDonald’s work: ‘the elusiveness of a condition of settled well-being in a society that struggles to maintain social, cultural and environmental connection.’ At the root of the problem is the questionable assertion of sovereignty by the ‘Settler Invader’ society.... Postcolonial Heritage and Settler Well-Being is thoughtful, well researched, insightful, rewarding. ... Overall, this book, part of the Cambria Australian Literature Series, under the general editorship of Susan Lever, is an excellent contribution to the field." —JASAL: Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
"Lee’s appraisal of McDonald’s take on the challenges faced by Australians—particularly Australian men—is intelligent, illuminating, and ‘appreciative’ without being overly respectful. ... He [McDonald] deserves the recognition afforded by being included in the ‘Australian Literature Series’ of critical monographs brought out by the US academic publisher Cambria Press. Under the general editorship of Susan Lever, the series has produced several studies of the work, career, and reception of Australian writers as various as Thea Astley and Christos Tsiolkas. Aimed at scholars and students engaged in the study of Australian writing (assuming that they still exist), the series provides a valuable collective survey of the field, in the broader context of international literary developments." —Australian Book Review
“Beautifully written, Lee’s book carves out critical space for Roger McDonald in the contemporary canon of historical fiction in Australia and internationally. Particularly impressive is Lee's ability to combine insightful close readings with attention to readers, imagined and real, and to the individuals and institutions that shape the literary work’s movement through the world.” —Katherine Bode, Australian National University, author of A World of Fiction: Digital Collections and the Future of Literary History
“Roger McDonald started out as a poet and became one of Australia’s best-known novelists. In this perceptive, vigorously argued study, Chris Lee shows how McDonald’s remarkable literary career, and in particular his determination to re-understand history, epitomizes a crucial shift of the Australian literary mainstream in the direction of moral reckoning and social justice.” —Nicholas Birns, New York University, author of Contemporary Australian Literature: A World Not Yet Dead
