Custodians, The

Against the scarred landscape of contemporary Australia, eight childhood friends seek their individual destinies: Alex, ambitious but melancholy; Cleve, snatched by the state from his parents; Danny, his twin brother, who has spent more of his life in custody than free; Elspeth, the heiress seeking enlightenment; Jane, passionately committed to her art; Josie, dedicated to doing good; Wendy, in search of fun; and Ziggy, the brilliant actor. They are the custodians, but of what, and for whom? From the 1950s to the 1980s, from the South Australian outback to Manhattan's art world and the London stage, from tropical Queensland to Mao's China, The Custodians has an extraordinary reach. It is at once a startling and often comical novel about friendship, love, and betrayal, and an astounding story of struggle and history—a history which these eight characters must both embrace and transcend if they are to find reconciliation with the land to which they belong, but which does not belong to them. The Custodians is a triumph of storytelling, a sharp and moving epic from one of Australia's most acclaimed writers.