An earlier version of this extremely accomplished first novel won the Victorian Premier's Award for Unpublished Manuscripts in 2003. Now here it is in its final polished form and it's a treat. Funny, warm, wise, sad and poignant. It's 1934 and the Better Farming Train is chugging along through western Victoria to the Mallee. The idea of progress is in the air, and progress means science, hence productivity and patriotism. Against this background of optimism, the novel focuses on the relationship between Robert Pettergree, science man, and Jean Finnegan, a seamstress with an enquiring mind. The story is largely told through Jean's eyes: her imagination versus his pragmatism. They take up land at Wycheproof, where they set out to prove that science and idealism can grow better quality wheat. Almost inevitably, there follows the heartbreak of drought, mouse plagues, sand drift, rabbits, poor yields and rust. Tiffany is spot on about the mood of the 1930s, with a sharp eye for the idiom and look of those times. She has real affection and sympathy for her battlers, wryly observing the housewifery, thrift, friendship and sheer back-breaking work that underscores their lives. And in a more general sense she beautifully captures the subtle essence of the so-called typical Australian, as well as the harsh and haunting beauty of that flat landscape. Sally Madsen is from Readings Carlton