'Historian and artist Robert Hollingworth's captivating reconstruction of Swedish-born naturalist Heinricke Nelsen's solitary life on a mountain in Victoria's Tallarook Ranges in the 1860s is written in the form of a prison diary. No imaginary work could arrange a better cast of characters than this meticulously researched story. Nelsen's personal reflections interweave with fascinating and engrossing depictions of life in Australia in the early to mid 1800s, allowing the reader insights into issues early white settlement of race, class, land development, commerce and trade, the law and living conditions in general. (Publisher's blurb)
