"My particular favourite in the imaginative sampler of our own Irish family history is Uncle Caulfield. He was a surly soul, not well-hinged in the head. He was made more surly and unhinged by the First World War, when his brave plan to escape from a German prison camp was thwarted by a British officer. After the war, Uncle Caulfield took to punching anyone he overheard to have an English accent.
Horses were Uncle Caulfield's salvation. He had a miraculous way with horses and could ride like a demon on the back of a storm. Uncle Caulfield was sent by concerned relatives to Australia, to keep him out of bars or from behind prison bars . . .
Having failed to extract any consistent truth about Uncle Caulfield in the Northern Hemisphere, I decided I might be better to start in Australia and work backwards. If he had been famous there would be records, newspaper cuttings . . ."
So begins a comical and idiosyncratic odyssey to unravel fact from fiction in a well-spun family tale. Along the way Annie Caulfield finds the real, bittersweet Australia in a series of bizarre encounters with characters of all types, for whom the term "larger than life" was invented. Not always pretty, but generally full of dayglo local colour, the individuals she meets give a startling 3D snapshot of modern Australia, as well as shedding light on a past that has its contradictions and complexities. In turns wry, funny, touching and sometimes tragic, Annie Caulfield's quest to find her family connection to Australia uncovers much more than she bargained for.
