The Thorn Birds

The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by the Australian author Colleen McCullough. Set primarily on Drogheda – a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback named after Drogheda, Ireland – the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans the years 1915 to 1969.

The novel is the best selling book in Australian history, and has sold over 33 million copies worldwide.[1]

The novel was also adapted into an eponymous television miniseries; during its 27–30 March 1983 run, it became the United States’ second-highest-rated miniseries of all time, behind Roots. Subsequently, a 1996 mini-series entitled The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years filled in a gap of 19 years in the middle of the novel. It was criticized for inconsistencies with the original series.

The novel was also adapted into a musical in 2009, The Thorn Birds Musical.

The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann “Meggie” Cleary who is the only daughter of Padriac (“Paddy”), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona (“Fee”), his wife. Meggie is a beautiful child with curly red-gold hair but receives little coddling and must struggle to hold her own in the family, which includes five older brothers at the time. Her favourite brother is the eldest, Frank, a rebellious young man who is unwillingly preparing himself for the blacksmith’s trade. He is much shorter than his other brothers, but very strong. Unlike the other Clearys, he has black hair and eyes, believed to be inherited from his Maori great-great-grandmother.

Paddy has a wealthy sister, Mary Carson, a widow who lives in New South Wales, Australia, on Drogheda, an enormous sheep station. One day, Paddy receives an offer from Mary of a job on her estate, and so, in 1921, the whole Cleary family moves from New Zealand to Australia.

In Drogheda, the family meets Ralph de Bricassart, a young, capable, and ambitious priest. As punishment for insulting a bishop, he has been relegated to a remote parish in the town of Gillanbone, near Drogheda. Ralph has befriended Mary Carson, hoping a hefty bequest from her to the Catholic Church might liberate him from his exile. Ralph is “a beautiful man”, and Mary goes to great lengths to tempt him to break his vows. Ralph shrugs off her attentions and ploys, and continues his visits. He cares for all of the Clearys and particularly cherishes forlorn little Meggie.

Frank’s relationship with his father, Paddy, has never been peaceful. The two vie for Fee’s attention. Frank resents the many pregnancies Paddy has caused her to endure. Fee, now in her forties, reveals she is again pregnant; the two men quarrel violently, and Paddy tells Frank he is not his biological son. It is revealed that Fee, the daughter of a prominent New Zealand citizen, had an affair with a married politician. The result, Frank, was already eighteen months old when Fee married Paddy. Because he resembles her lost love, Frank has always been Fee’s favourite child. After the argument with Paddy, Frank runs away to become a prizefighter. Fee gives birth to twin boys, James and Patrick (Jims and Patsy), but shows little interest in them. Shortly afterward, Meggie’s beloved little brother, Hal, dies.

With Frank gone and Hal dead, Meggie clings to Ralph de Bricassart, who has been her constant mentor and friend. As she grows into womanhood, some begin to question their close relationship, including Ralph and Meggie themselves. Mary Carson, motivated by jealousy mingled with Machiavellian cruelty, devises a plan to separate Ralph from Meggie by tempting him with a high place in the Church hierarchy. Although her will of record leaves the bulk of her estate to Paddy, she quietly writes a new one, making the Roman Catholic Church the main beneficiary and Ralph the executor.