One of my childhood memories is watching The Thorn Birds miniseries on TV with my mom, and even as a girl I recognized that Fr. Ralph (played by Richard Chamberlain) was not your average priest. I also remember the orange paperback edition residing on my mom’s nightstand for ages. I’m a little older now than my mom would have been back then, so I think I’m at the point where I could appreciate the book for what it was. I finished it one afternoon while my teenagers were hanging out at Canada’s Wonderland, and I was sitting in the parent hangout area.

I love multi-generational family sagas, and this one delivers in spades, centered on Meggie, the daughter of an Outback family dynasty. Definitely some problematic areas that probably wouldn’t pass muster these days, but I still was captivated from start to finish!