Eucalyptus

A New York Times Notable Book of 1998

“T here is such delight in           Eucalyptus, such a strange and sly and swerving humour–You will never forget what is at the heart of this novel — one of the great and most surprising courtships in literature.”  – Michael Ondaatje

Amidst the spearing light and broken shadows of Australia’s Outback, a man named Holland raises his daughter, Ellen. As she grows into a woman of unusual beauty, he tends an orchard that boasts every species of eucalyptus. When Ellen is nineteen, her father makes an announcement: she will marry the man who can successfully name each tree. What emerges is a story scintillating with sudden wisdom and spiky truths, a modern-day fairy tale that affirms the seductive power of storytelling itself.