Cirrus@Austlit

Randolph Stow's two novels, To the Islands and Tourmaline, are set in the remote and arid north of Western Australia. Its hostile environment is depicted as a site of spiritual purgation and desolation. But today iron and gas deposits of enormous value have been discovered in the area and this adjacent ocean, and some of the world's largest industrial developments threaten both its fragile ecology and its storehouse of priceless Indigenous rock art. Stow's novels are read as warnings of how easily success can disintegrate into hopelessness, and how tenuous our grip on spiritual fulfillment can be. [Author's abstract]