This book is on the original edition of the 1001 list and was short-listed for The Orange Prize in 2004.

Paperback. 366pages. Includes a Reading Group Guide and an Author's commentry at the back of the book.

An excellent read, it only suffers a bit from the Author not being a New Zealander, she got some of the colloquialisms wrong.

From Amazon:
Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from England to New Zealand, along with Joseph's mother Lilian, in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in a creek bed, he hides the discovery from both his wife and mother, and becomes obsessed with the riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new goldfields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of the "colour," rush to their destinies and doom.

Thinking of offering this as a 1001 list bookring.

Surprise Glenystasmania!
Happy Australia Smile Day RABK :)
I hope you find a little bit of gold in this one, it is a colourful tale :)
This author is one of my favourites.

More of a fanciful tale then "The Virtuous Woman" who shares the book bag and the story is set a bit closer to home, in NZ :)

Hope you like the couple of bookmarks and the National Gallery postcard also included :) Cherio

received this book today as the winner of Smile Day RABCK

very enjoyable read,

just to the right of the main doorway

I found this on a shelf at the Bushy Park Market and bought it for $2. Luckily there was a spine label, or I wouldn't have noticed it. However someone had glued the inside label to the next page to hide it. Although the paper can't be separated I was able to make out the number. I will take it home...yeah (grin) back to Canberra...and give it a new label. I did express my displeasure to the nice (they were) ladies on duty today. They looked up who placed it there for sale and said they would pass my comments on.
Hello Freepages, I haven't seen you at a meet for ages.

An okay read. The writing style though did not appeal to me. An interesting history of those involved, but by the end I was finding the constant remembrances of past lives, etc, tedious and I began then to skim some pages. The story is interesting though.
I read this book during a week staying in the Jindabyne, Tumut and nearby areas.

Released in the Yarn Market, High Street, in Dunster, Somerset, UK.

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To the finder, enjoy, and I hope you will write a journal entry so that previous readers will know that this book has been found (even anonymously). It is always a joy to find where it has gone. Once you've read this book, pass it on to a friend, or set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find as you did.
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It was great to find the book - especially as it had travelled so far.

A good story, an interesting subject, but I found myself quite violently disliking the main protagonist.