THE SUN WALKS DOWN

Set in arid Southern Australia in 1883, this tale of a farming community’s search for a missing child offers intimate human drama, ruminations on the intersections of art and life, and a sweeping, still relevant view of race and class in Australia—and by extension, the U.S.

Six-year-old Denny Wallace wanders off his family farm during a sudden dust storm in the novel’s gorgeously rendered, anxiety-provoking first pages. The next scene, describing a wedding Denny’s sisters happen to be attending in the nearby town, charms with sexy innuendo and mild comedy. The tonal switch, jarring but effective, prepares the reader for plotting and characterizations that repeatedly confound expectations. Organized into the seven days and nights of searching for Denny, the suspense story—will he be found in time?—is a strong foundation for the novel’s larger ambitions. The treacherous beauty of Australia’s landscape comes vividly to life as a metaphor for the multiple human dramas unfolding. Australian-born McFarlane excels at creating a broad perspective on 19th-century Australia. The cast is Dickensian in size, but there are no caricatures. With a line of description here, a snatch of dialogue there, every character develops a fertile interior life: Denny’s sisters and financially strapped parents; the lusty young bride and groom from the wedding; the uncomfortably privileged members of a wealthy ranching family; a visiting Swedish artist and his wife who disagree on art’s relationship to life. Indigenous people, taken for granted by the Whites, play particularly central roles, participating in the search with more skill than the White employers they observe with disdain. Even outsiders, like an Afghan trader passing through, are spotlighted in set-piece monologues. Although at times Denny’s would-be saviors, wrapped up in their private issues, almost forget about him, the boy remains the reader’s point of gravity as he navigates a frightening world with a child’s intuition.

A masterpiece of riveting storytelling.