The Thorn Birds Author:Colleen McCollough Spanning three generations and an infinite range of human emotions, The Thorn Birds is the story of a singular family, the Clearys, who leave New Zealand to live on a vast Australian sheep station, where their triumphs and tragedies are interwoven with the wonder and terror of a land ravaged by cycles of drought, fire, and torrential flood. But ... more »most of all, it is the story of Meggie, who falls madly in love with a man she can never marry, and of Ralph, a truly beautiful man, whose ambition takes him from the Outback parish priest to the inner circles of the Vatican- but whose love for Meggie Cleary will lead to a passion he cannot control.« less