The Thorn Birds

"Beautiful…Compelling entertainment."

—New York Times

"A heart-rending epic…truly marvelous."

—Chicago Tribune

Colleen McCullough charts three generations of the Cleary clan across fifty years of Australian history, following young Meggie Cleary from childhood poverty into an enduring, unyielding devotion to the ambitious Catholic priest Father Ralph de Bricassart.

The vast sheep station of Drogheda surrounds the family with savage droughts, devastating bushfires, and immense isolation, testing each generation against an unforgiving wilderness.

This multi-generational saga moves from the rugged backcountry of New Zealand to the Vatican corridors of ecclesiastical power, tracing a turbulent heritage marked by unspoken secrets and bitter sacrifice.

A monumental epic romance and one of the most beloved novels of all time, The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough’s sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback, returns to enthrall a new generation.

• Historical Romance: Seeking refuge from an impossible devotion, Meggie endures a solitary marriage to the itinerant sugarcane cutter Luke O’Neill in tropical North Queensland.
• Family Drama: The imperious Drogheda matriarch Mary Carson manipulates her vast pastoral empire to test Father Ralph’s ecclesiastical ambitions, pitting faith against earthly temptation.
• Multiple POV: Shifting perspectives follow the Cleary dynasty across decades, exploring the divergent paths of the embattled prize fighter Frank and the rebellious stage actress Justine.
• Also by This Author: The First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown and Caesar’s Women.