As someone who has spent a lot of time in Australia I was interested to see how the book portrayed it in the past. The descriptions of the Outback were impeccable and the characters represent the time perfectly.

I really enjoyed this read but can understand how people were less engaged - book a trip to Aus and you'll feel it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this book for a fair and honest review.

This book was enjoyable and the descriptions of Australia was beautiful. I loved how it involved early pioneers in Australian’s history. Characters were not bad and plot was interesting. It did go on a lot I felt and the story could have been half the size.

I did not expect what I got from this book. When I finally started reading this book, I did not remember what attracted me to this in the first place, but I got a very complex look at a very desolate landscape.
Even recent books set in Australia have that lonely feeling - the authors manage to convey the vastness and unpredictability of the land. This is set in 1883, and it can only be imagined how much harder life must have been at the time.
The town of Fairly finds out that a younger member of their town has gone missing. We see him wander off with a dream or image in his mind that spurs his onward moment. The delirium that drives his walk is not something that is entirely explained, but the chaos that ensues in town is well described. There is some faint hint of premonition that continues to wind its way as we meet everyone who plays some small role in the central occurrence while trying to figure out their own lives.
There are not many people who make their way into the narrative, but the ones that we do are all fractured and worn down individuals in some form or the other. Some may rise up to the occasion, while others may not, it is only when the book wraps up that one can make up their mind about everyone involved. Even then, it is a dicey prospect to pass judgment given the harsh environment and everything that survival within this entails.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes the sound of it. The writing is very evocative, but on the whole, it is a trying tale with some form of triumph but no conclusive happy ending, just as a warning to those who like their stories to end that way.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

A beautiful, resonant novel, set in the late nineteenth century in Australia. Six year old Denny gets lost in a dust storm and the town is mobilised to search for him. Fiona McFarlane shows us the colonial community that is planted there like their wheat which struggles to grow, and the indigenous Australians whose lives have been impacted by the incomers. Like Billy who showed a natural brilliance for cricket, but, once his white patron dies is left working on a farm, disconnected from the rituals which would have initiated him into the mysteries of his own people. The characters are sensitively drawn and unexpected, the landscape is almost another character in itself, and the cultural disharmony plays out as the search for Denny becomes increasingly hopeless.

A wonderfully atmospheric and compelling story of a small boy who gets lost during a dust storm in the Australian outback, and of the subsequent search for him. Six-year-old Denny Wallace goes missing and the whole community come together to find him. The book is set in in a small town in 1883, and is narrated through multiple voices and multiple perspectives. The narrative moves along slowly, in spite of the gathering tension, and thus the reader can get to know all the various characters who inhabit the town. It all felt to me to be a convincing and authentic portrait of outback life, and all the different personalities that have ended up there, many of whom remain more concerned with their own day-to-day lives even while they are part of the hunt. Each of them adds to the multi-layered description of the time and place. I found this compulsive reading indeed, and very much enjoyed it. This community became real to me and I was as concerned as anyone to find out what happened to the child. A really enjoyable read.

A blazing hot mystery in the outback. Little Denny has gone missing and no one knows what has happened to him. The characters are magnificent and represent Australia and the time well. The plot is engaging and it's a masterpiece of a story.

I tried several times to engage with this novel. The description of the Austra!Ian outback is beautifully written and the research of early pioneers impeccable. However, a good start led to a slow narrative and I failed to finish.

Enjoyed the content of this book, the setting, historical aspects but found the writing quite difficult to engage with and it took a long time for me to get through. Would recommend, it’s enjoyable, but a definite slow burn.

I enjoy historic fiction and this one was off to a great start. It was tense and definitely gave me a bit of mummy anxiety. However after the dramatic beginning it just never really took off. The tension wasn't there. The characters didn't really develop. It a really slow read for me in the final two thirds

I loved this book with its large cast of individual and beautifully portrayed characters and its rich evocative depiction of the outback. When I see the word ‘pioneer’, I typically think of America, so it was fascinating to read about Australian pioneers and their relationship and interdependency with the native aboriginal population.I found the Wallace family particularly endearing. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

This book is a show stopper - one I would give to my friends. I would buy multiple copies of this book for people!

This was such a beautiful story, written from the viewpoints of many characters.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book I have really enjoyed reading. Set around the central story of the search for a lost six year old boy we are introduced to a variation of characters who are trying to make a living in an inhospitable area of 19th century Australia .
Ranging from the boys family to a Swedish artist and including a German prostitute and a newly married couple, the groom is police constable, the author provides insights into their varied and interesting lives all bound together by the central plot.
This is a novel of great depth , an excellent piece of writing from a very talented author.
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The Sun Walks Down is a beautifully written historical novel set in late nineteenth century Australia. The focus is on the search for Denny, a six year old boy who gets disoriented in a dust storm and gets lost. As the community gathers and the search starts we learn more about the people who live there, their lives and their hopes and fears.

The Sun Walks Down is a real slow burner of a novel with the search for the missing boy the catalyst for learning more about the characters who live in the small town of Fairley. The characters really made this novel for me, their diversity, their strength of character and their adaptibility to the hostile environment of late nineteenth century Australian outback. Denny’s parents came from England, Mary with her father who was a vicar and Matthew looking for a new life. With five daughters life is hard, the land is dry and stoney making it difficult to grow anything. Cissy, the second oldest daughter was my favourite character. She was straddling the line between childhood and adulthood, not wanting to just sit and wait whilst the men went searching for her brother. She shows her tenacity on the search, refusing to be sidelined by the men, and a times I felt she outsmarted them. There are also the Baumann family from Germany, with Minnie relishing in her new role as a wife and the Axam’s also English. There are also Afghans and the Chinese in Australia at the time,making it such a multi cultural country, probably due to the gold rush and the hope of becoming rich. The different cultures show the diversity of life in Australia at that time, but also the problems of colonisation; the displacmemt of those native to Australia and the European immigrants presuming they know better, and wanting to bring changes like religion.

Fiona McFarlane’s writing is beautiful and poetic and what made this book such a joy to read. She writes very detailed descriptions to set the scene, the arid landscape, the dust and stoney landscape with green only appearing on the surrounding hill. The landscape was almost like another character, it played an important part in the daily lives of all who live in Fairly and is an obstical in the search for Denny, making it difficult to track him. I loved the many layers of this book, it is so much more than just the search for a young boy, it’s about a community coming together, the daily life of those who live there, and how life must go on for those who need to earn a living. This is a really slow burner, and at times I did feel it dragged a bit, but the beauty of the prose more than mad up for that small niggle.

The Sun Walks Down is a beautifully written book, detailed and poetic at times. Fiona McFarlane captures the atmosphere of this period in Australian history, peoples fears and hopes, and the difficulties of colonisation with its prejudices and sidelining of those who live there. The characters are fascinating, all having their faults but they all come together for six year old Denny showing the strength of community at times of crisis. This is a mesmerising and breathtaking read that I found utterly compelling.

I enjoyed this novel which tells of a Lost child Victorian Australian outback .The story is very firmly rooted both in time and place .I enjoyed the descriptions of the wild county around the tiny new town which had been built recently as the railway spread to the interior of the country
The story is full of interesting minutely described characters who feel immensely real .I loved the small touches that litter the story for example The grown man who thinks of himself using his childhood nickname but hates anyone apart from his mother using it .There are a large number of people involved in the search for the child and I was very impressed by his easily I was able to keep track of them all .The story os told by rotating narrators cleverly achieved I always knew who I was reading .
The novel tells us something about the early settlers strong sprit and of the Tension between native and incomer population .one characters desire to own a cloak worn by an aboriginal man was such a strong image it spoke of her own white superiority and the fact she felt she somehow owned this man
The book is poetic and the author has a distinctive voice it is moving in parts and also often very Witty
I read an early copy on NetGalley uk the book was published in the uk on 9th march 2023 by Hodder and Stoughton .Thos review will appear on Goodreads NetGalley uk and on my book book bionicsarasbooks@wordpress.Com

In September 1883, a small town in the South Australian outback huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and the entire community is caught up in the search for him. As they look for the lost child, the residents of Fairly confront their relationships with each other and with the ancient landscape they inhabit.
This was a highly engaging read. The characters were unique and offered insights into the touch early pioneering days.

In 1883 in the desert environment of the Flinders Ranges in Southern Australia a six year old boy, Denny Wallace, disappears following a storm. This is Australian author Fiona McFarlane’s second novel (there’s also been a prize-winning collection of short stories) and it is very much a character-led ensemble piece with a sizeable cast of fascinating characters.
This is the search for Danny and those involved include his family, the authorities and native trackers. For me, the characters who burn brightest include his fifteen year old sister Cissy, who seems more on the ball than the adults, who borrows a horse from her teacher and is determined to locate her brother; Karl Rapp, a Swedish painter, in search of a perfect sunset; the newly-wed Minna Manning, throbbing with passion whilst her groom Robert, a policeman, is out looking for the boy and the mother, Mary, who waits stolidly at home.
The cast also includes an out of his element vicar; an aborigine whose youth was marked by his excelling in cricket, which no longer seems relevant, and a land-owning woman who yearns for the fur coat of a tracker. We catch up with these throughout the narrative and there are occasional digressions into back stories which often serve to enrich our understanding of these characters.
It is very well-written with the sense of the desert environment strong where long-established livelihoods are threatened by the lack of rain. Plot-wise, it is a little light in dramatic tension but atmosphere, characterisation and description made this a memorable, immersive read.
The Sun Walks Down is published in the UK by Sceptre on 9th March 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

The Sun Walks Down is an atmospheric novel set in 1883 rural Australia, lit by the kaleidoscope colours of Krakatoa-influenced sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm and the book follows him and the various people in the community who are looking for him.

I really enjoyed the large cast of varied characters here and the real sense of time and place.

A recommended read for lovers of historical fiction.

This is a beautiful book, not heavy on plot but big on character and how one event can cause ripples far and wide, Set in colonial South Australia in the late nineteenth century, the narrative focuses on the search for six-year-old Denny who gets lost in the outback when a. dust storm blows up. An odd child, confused about ancient gods in the hills, he leaves behind misleading traces. The community comes together to either join the hunt or support the family in their home, but prejudice, cultural difference and lack of a cohesive strategy cause further complications as police, family, landowners and indigenous trackers compete to find Denny first. The characters are diverse and beautifully portrayed, often in a few sentences, as skilfully as the artist Bess Rapp’s sketches. Denny’s headstrong sister Cissy struggles to play a role in the search party on equal terms with the men, while the Aborigines of the community survive by working for, and adapting to the demands of, their white masters; new bride Minna finds freedom through marriage, while the widows of the landowners face a loss of status and identity. The Christianity of Denny’s mother, which she believes requires her to suffer and endure, exists alongside the more primitive spirituality of the native people with their traditions of holy places and cursed ones. The writing is exquisite and very sensuous- you can almost see the vivid dark reds and purples of the sky, feel the scorching heat, taste the gritty desert dust and inhale the scents of buildings, clothing and human life. Lives will be changed by the events of these few days, for good and for ill, and the community itself will evolve and disperse, but a moment in time and place is captured here that will live on in the memory.

I really enjoyed The Sun Walks Down. I thought The Night Guest was a great book and looked forward to reading more of the author’s work. The book is quite densely written and it look a few chapters to get used to the style. The book is told from different character viewpoints so it took a while to get used to the structure. I liked the fact the book doesn’t just focus on Denny’s disappearance but the lives of everyone connected to him, his family and the region where they live. The book is well-written and absorbing.