{"product_id":"the-ballad-of-desmond-kale","title":"The Ballad of Desmond Kale","description":"\u003cp style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI',sans-serif; color: #212b36;\"\u003eSecond-Hand\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI',sans-serif; color: #212b36;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI',sans-serif; color: #212b36;\"\u003eExcellent condition\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn the early 1800s, out of the prison society of governors, redcoats, English gaolers, Irish convicts, and the few free settlers of Botany Bay, no one had ventured much farther inland than a few dozen miles from Sydney.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOr so it was believed until the escape of Desmond Kale and the vengeance of his rival, the wildly eccentric parson magistrate Matthew Stanton. The Ballad of Desmond Kale is a broad-sweeping novel of the first days of British settlement in Australia. At the centre is Stanton's pursuit of Kale - an Irish political prisoner and a rebelliously brilliant breeder of sheep.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe alchemy of wool fascinates, threatens, and transforms when it is discovered that fine wool thrives in New South Wales as nowhere else in in the world, producing veritable gold on sheep's backs. The Ballad of Desmond Kale is both a love story of unusual interest and an epic novel of greed, ambition, conceit, and redemption. The novel is rich in its characterisations and the rawness of its settings, vigour of language, and vividness of personality.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe action moves from the early Australian bush to the halls of Westminster, the mills of Yorkshire, the sierras of Spain, the wilds of the Southern Ocean, and returns at last into the far outback for its finale. Once the ballad is sung, ordinary experience is heightened, the world can never be the same again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA brilliant and inspired recreation of the early days of white Australian settlement by one of Australia's finest writers working at the height of his powers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roger McDonald","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43107913564329,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0424\/9518\/0962\/files\/mcdonald_9a6a3dce-61d3-4991-93b6-6b6e94270465.jpg?v=1686964725","url":"https:\/\/roseyravelstonbooks.com.au\/products\/the-ballad-of-desmond-kale","provider":"RoseyRavelston Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}