A phenomenal worldwide bestseller since 1977 THE THORN BIRDS is a robust, romantic saga of three generations. It begins in the early years of this century when Paddy Cleary moves his wife and seven children to Drogheda, an Australian sheep station, owned by his autocratic and childless older sister. For more than half a century we follow their fates, particularly those of Meggie, the only Cleary daughter, and the one man she truly loves, Ralph de Bricassart - stunningly handsome, ambitious, and a priest. As background to the Cleary family's lives there is the land itself: relentless in its demands, brilliant in its flowering. THE THORN BIRDS is a book that enfolds the reader in its capacious arms. The story begins in 1915 when Paddy Cleary moves his wife and seven children to an Australian sheep station. It ends after World War II when the only survivor of the third generation sets a course of life and love halfway round the world from her roots. Colleen McCullough was born in Wellington, New South Wales, working in hospitals in Sydney and London before moving to the Yale University Medical School to train as a nurse. There she wrote the phenomenal bestseller THE THORN BIRDS. length: (cm)18 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)11