The Call
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who love The Thorn Birds and want to explore McCullough's other grand narratives
- Readers interested in 19th-century colonial history, mining development and social change
- Lovers of family epics who appreciate fates tightly interwoven with their era and richly layered characters
- Deep readers seeking a sense of human complexity and spiritual growth within a story
Not a good fit for
- Entertainment readers seeking fast pace and strong plot conflict
- Readers impatient with long length and detailed environmental or psychological description
Reading tips
- Set aside continuous reading time to immerse yourself in the grand time-space and delicate emotions the author builds.
- Pay some attention to the depictions of Australia's distinctive natural and social landscapes; they are important background for understanding characters' behavior.
- As you read, consider how themes such as "success" and "happiness," "conquest" and "belonging" are embodied—and contradicted—in the protagonist.
About the publisher
Founded in 1987, Qingdao Publishing House has long focused on education, science and technology, children's books, and lifestyle titles, while steadily publishing classical and foreign literature. Its 827 titles in the catalog reflect a balance between making classics widely accessible and serving young readers. They include the four great classics of Chinese literature—Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West—as well as foreign literary translations such as Sei Shōnagon's The Pillow Book, works associated with Zhou Zuoren, and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. The press also offers a color-illustrated series of recommended classics for primary and secondary school Chinese curriculum reading, using pictures and text to support student readers. Its common categories cover classical literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, folk literature, and foreign literature, with authors including Luo Guanzhong, Shi Nai'an, Cao Xueqin, Gao E, Wu Cheng'en, Sei Shōnagon, Zhou Zuoren, and Victor Hugo. Public information is limited, so this profile emphasizes the publishing directions shown by the catalog.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 编委会
- 鸣 谢
- General Preface 1
- 总序1
- 总序2
- General Preface 3
- 总序3
- 第一部 一八七二至一八八五
- 第一章 命运的改变
- 第二章 “亚历山大大帝”的足迹
- 第三章 找到了矿脉和新娘
- 第四章 家事和出人意料的同盟
- 第五章 为人之母
- 第六章 启示录
- 第七章 新的痛苦
- 第八章 信
- 第二部 一八八八至一八九三
- 第一章 两个含苞待放的姑娘
- 第二章 争端
- 第三章 灾难
- 第四章 生与死
- 第五章 男人的世界
- 第六章 安娜的多莉
- 第三部 一八九七至一九〇〇
- 第一章 浪子回归
- 第二章 启蒙
- 第三章 石破天惊
- 第四章 女医生
- 第五章 亚历山大再上战马
FAQ
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About the author
Colleen McCullough was an Australian writer known for her fiction, whose works are often classified under foreign literature. Her writing covers a broad range of subjects, and she was skilled at developing relationships and emotional tension within her narratives; her stories tend to combine readability with a deeper attention to human nature and fate. Among Chinese readers, one of her better-known works is Cry of the Thorn Birds, published in Chinese as Huhuan. Public information is limited, so this entry does not elaborate on the full details of her life, education, or complete bibliography. Based on the available information, her novels often follow the fate of their characters, with steady plotting and expressive language, carving out a distinctive mode of expression between popular and serious fiction. After being translated into Chinese, her works drew attention from a certain readership and offer a useful reference point for understanding contemporary Australian fiction.
Li Yao is an author about whom limited public information is available; neither nationality, dates of birth and death, nor an English name has been clearly recorded. The library holds twenty of the author's works, spanning foreign literature, biography, social novels, essays and miscellaneous writings, as well as examination-related books, indicating that the writing and editorial work is not confined to a single field. Representative works include The True History of the Kelly Gang, Carpentaria, The Tree of Man, The Swan Book, The Rachel Papers, A Mirror Flaw, The Call and The Prodigal Son. Judging from the titles and categories, some works show a strong narrative quality and social concern, while others tend toward essays or the arrangement of historical materials. Because verifiable biographical information is insufficient, specific experiences and creative background cannot yet be described in detail; readers may turn to the works above to understand the author's textual style and areas of interest.
