Life on the land is a study in contrasts: shadow and light, abundance and blight, the transcendent moment eroded by the persistence of time. And it’s against this backdrop, in the shearing sheds of Eureka Station, across the sweeping hills and lagoons of the Isabel district and the fleeting camaraderie of the Five Alls pub, that men play out their fates, conduct their affairs and hope for the best. WHEN COLTS RAN, written in Roger McDonald’s inimitably rich and piercingly observant style, charts the ebb and flow of human fortune, and our fraught desire to leave an indelible mark on society and those closest to us. It shows how loyalties shape us in the most unexpected ways. It’s the story of how men ‘strike at beauty’ as they fall to the earth.