The Thorn Birds Summary
Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough's 1977 novel, The Thorn Birds, became an international publishing sensation as its sales climbed past the seven-million mark. This saga of three generations in an Irish Catholic fam... Read more

In the following review, Clemons provides a brief analysis of The Thorn Birds and commentary on the novel's popular appeal. It has, as they say, everything: three generations of suffering (f... Read more

In the following excerpt, Kaplan identifies elements of fantasy and female sexuality in romance literature through analysis of The Thorn Birds. Kaplan draws attention to the novel's incest moti... Read more

In the following review, Lehmann-Haupt approves of The Thorn Birds as a good example of predictable escapist fiction. Going over the notes I kept while reading The Thorn Birds—and there were... Read more

In the following review, Kroll commends McCullough's "touching" romantic world view and prose, but criticizes the excessive scope of The Thorn Birds and its monotonous passages. ... Read more

In the following essay, Cassill offers insight into McCullough's views on writing and the editorial process behind the publication of The Thorn Birds. Even though Colleen McCullough has been... Read more

In the following essay, Sutherland discusses the publishing history of The Thorn Birds and the novel's great popular appeal. In the New York Times Book Review's survey of the decade&#... Read more

Critical Essay by Eliot Fremont-smith The Thorn Birds is the saga of the Clearys, primarily of Fee Cleary and her daughter Meggie. It is also the story of an ambitious Catholic priest, Ralph de Brica... Read more

Critical Essay by Webster Schott Miss McCullough's plan [in "The Thorn Birds"] is to trace three generations of a New Zealand family, especially the Cleary women: Fee, Meggie and... Read more

Critical Essay by Pat Caplan Promoters are calling [The Thorn Birds] the Australian Gone With The Wind. The Thorn Birds does resemble Gone With The Wind in containing a feisty Irish paterfamilias,... Read more