SOLOMON'S SONG

Bryce Courtenay’s trilogy, beginning with POTATO FACTOR and followed by TOMMO AND HAWK, concludes with SOLOMON’S SONG. This episode of the Solomon saga further chronicles their loves and hatreds, family wars and World Wars. Courtenay knows his way around the Aussie psyche, and narrator Humphrey Bower doesn’t miss a nuance. His villains have a sharp, nasal nastiness, and his love scenes tickle the hairs at the nape of the neck. Bower’s performance is spot-on, but hearing the earlier books is important to fully understand the parallels between the family’s tribulations and Australia’s emergence as a nation. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 04]