The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (HC 1977) 1st Edition

Of all of Colleen McCullough's novels, The Thorn Birds made the greatest impact on my ideas of what a great novel should be. I was drawn into the story and could not put it down until I finished it a week later. McCullough takes a turbulent cast of characters and places them in many different scenes throughout the world, but the most important parts of her book take place in Australia. McCullough was born and raised in Australia, but she studied neurology abroad and went on to teach the subject at Yale Medical School. McCullough writing career has spanned over four decades, and she has covered a wide variety of topics such as medical crimes and the Roman Empire. However, The Thorn Birds is most arguably her best and most powerful novel of all time.