Backbencher

"The Road to Coorain" is novel written by Jill Ker Conway published in 1993. It is an autobiography about her early life and how the outback shaped her as an adult. Jill moves from her dusty outback home to Sydney where she started her new life in every different way. Not only does she have problems moving away from home, but she goes through the impossible to handle with death of her father. Things do not get any easier, she is constantly reminded of the good times back in the outback from memories is a formidable cause of her depression in her college years. By the time she is 25, she has gone through more than a normal retired person. Things have not been easy for her, but she does keep her head up and moves on. Her mother, Eve, is an alcoholic and forces Jill to go out on her own and live her own life.

Jill was put into a boarding school then a university in the same town. She attended the University of Sydney where after the first year proved to be a very worthy student. The particular subject she loves is history, especially Australian history which she is very good at. Although Jill is an amazing student, she gets rejected from the Department of External Affairs job because of her gender. Jill and her mother then move to England, then she decides to pursue graduate school in the United States.

This book had great moments along with some dull moments. It is somewhat depressing because Jill always seemed to have it rough or barely struggling to get by. From age 11 her father dies, and her mother becomes an alcoholic later in life. Also with that she has to move from the one thing she loves, her outback home, and move to Sydney. Again she finds herself good at school, but gets turned down from her first job because of her gender not her credentials. Other than feeling sorry for her a lot, it does have a good story line and keeps moving as a book. I would rather have seen it with a little happier ending or overall more up beat.