The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

This is a fiction book about the Cleary family in Australia spanning from the years of 1915-1969. I found this book to be very beautiful, and I loved reading about the journey of this family.

Synopsis: This book starts out in New Zealand on the fourth birthday of Meghann (“Meggie”) Cleary. She is the only daughter of Paddy and Fiona and has five older brothers. The Cleary family move from New Zealand to Australia to work for Paddy’s sister on her sheep station. They meet Father Ralph who becomes close with all the Cleary’s and particularly Meggie. From the time she was a child, Meggie always loved Ralph and grew very close to him, but he leaves her because of his duties to the priesthood and bigger love for the church.
Meggie marries Luke because he looks like Ralph, and because he is not Catholic and she no longer wants anything to do with religion. After they marry, Luke finds Meggie a job as a live-in housekeeper, and he abandons Meggie, and finds a job cutting sugarcane in North Queensland.
Luke is very stingy with his money and tells Meggie he is saving money to buy them a homestead however he has no interest in settling down. However, Meggie wants children so they have a daughter, Justine whom Luke has no interest in. After Justine is born, Meggie leaves her with the family she works for and goes to an isolated island resort to try and find some peace and relaxation.
Father Ralph returns to Australia and finds out where Meggie is and goes to see her, and they make love with each other. Ralph returns to the church and Meggie finds out she is pregnant with his son, Dane, and finally leaves Luke and returns to Australia. Justine becomes an actress and leaves Australia to pursue her career in London and Dane decides to become a priest. Justine marries Rainier, a German politician and Dane drowns while on vacation in Greece attempting to rescue two women from a current.
Before Dane’s funeral, Meggie finally tells Ralph Dane is his son and Ralph dies in Meggie’s arms after the funeral.

Review:
The first quote that stood out to me from this book was “There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly, than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it finds one.” Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in his heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain.”
I just thought this quote was so beautiful and really symbolized the meaning of the whole book.
“We create our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.”
Throughout this book, Meggie suffered numerous hardships and was very strong and resilient. I think we all have an inner resilience that allows us to survive seemingly impossible things.
“Belief doesn’t rest on proof or existence. It rests on faith, without faith there is nothing.”
I completely agree with this statement. My belief in God doesn’t depend on physical proof, but on my faith. I would be lost without my faith.
“And gradually his memory slipped a little, as memories do, even those with so much love attached to them; as if there is an unconscious healing process within the mind which mends us in spite of our desperate determination never to forget.”
What this means to me is that even with events in life that one wants to remember that are happy memories, eventually we will all lose our memories as we age.