''Back of Sunset'' is a 1959 Australian novel from

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

Premise

It is about Dr Stephen McCabe, Sydney doctor who takes a working holiday with the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

in Western Australia. When the doctor who runs the practice is injured, McCabe must step up in his absence as he deals with a variety of crises.

Reception

The book received good reviews abroad. The ''Canberra Times'' called it a "potboiler". ''The Age'' called it "a bad novel but it will make excellent film". The ''Bulletin'' called it "a most adroitly dramatised story... Cleary has become pretty well faultless in the contrivances which push a novel on easily and smoothly", adding that it was, "a first-rate novel in the field of fictional journalism, in which characteristic types are photographed against a carefully-studied background which has value as news. When the job is done as successfully as this is, it is hard to say what more could be required — less of the feeling, perhaps, that the author is the manager of a modelling-agency. Nevertheless, for such novels to support an Australian author in the style to which Jon Cleary is becoming accustomed is a step towards a necessary sophistication for our writing."

Film Adaptation

also wrote a film script of the book for producer Lawrence Bachman but no movie resulted.Jon Cleary Interviewed by Stephen Vagg: Oral History
at National Film and Sound Archive

References

External links

''Back of Sunset''
at AustLit (subscription required) {{Jon Cleary 1959 Australian novels Novels set in Western Australia William Collins, Sons books Novels by Jon Cleary