The Thorn Birds

The Thorn Birds, a novel by Colleen McCullough, was first published in 1977 by Avon Books. A sweeping, romantic epic that spans nearly sixty years, The Thorn Birds became an international best-seller; the novel was adapted for the screen as an incredibly popular mini-series in 1983. Eventually, The Thorn Birds would become one of the most highly rated programs in American television history. This text uses the pagination of the Avon Books 2010 paperback edition.    

Plot Summary

The Thorn Birds traces the lives of the members of the Cleary family over the course of three generations, from their poor existence in New Zealand to their eventual move to Australia when a distant relative summons them and promises them a more stable life. From 1915 to 1969, the members of the Cleary family endure personal joys and personal tragedies, suggesting to the reader that one cannot exist without the other.

After years of poverty and struggle, the Cleary family, led by matriarch Fiona and her loyal husband Paddy, finally find a reliable source of income on the inherited estate. Their seemingly peaceful life, however, is tarnished by the consequences of desire. The local priest, Ralph de Bricassart, develops an attachment to the only daughter of the family, Meggie, when she is a child. As Meggie matures, Father Ralph falls in love with Meggie, and she with him, and their relationship impacts every major character in the novel. Against this backdrop of emotional turmoil, the Cleary family must cope with the natural miseries of hard labor in a strange landscape as well as the dramatic, sometimes catastrophic, changes in weather.

The matriarch of the family, Fiona Cleary, is all too willing to tend to her eight cherished sons, leaving Meggie to fend for herself. Meggie grows up without much knowledge of the adult world, and she eventually finds herself falling more deeply in love with Father Ralph, with no understanding of how her love could harm or hurt her. As a young woman, Meggie convinces herself that she must forget her childish admiration of Ralph. She marries, only to be treated viciously by her husband Luke O’Neill, whose attachment to Meggie has more to do with her inheritance than with their relationship. When Meggie is pregnant with her second child, she decides to leave her marriage and go home with her daughter, Justine. Meggie engages in a regrettable affair with Ralph, who unknowingly fathers a son with Meggie, named Dane. Ralph, the ambitious and naïve priest, learns he has a son only when Dane dies. Meggie insists that Ralph, now a Cardinal, oversee their son’s last rites; after Dane’s funeral, Ralph is overcome, and he dies of a heart attack.

During this turbulent time, Justine, now an adult living in Europe, struggles with her own burdens. Justine can be churlish and insensitive to her own emotions, as well as those of others who care for her, so when she decides to punish herself for Dane’s accidental death, Meggie takes charge. In response to Justine’s claim that she wants to return to Australia to grieve and ferment in her guilt and misery, Meggie instructs Justine to live her life in Europe, resisting the temptation to summon her daughter home to keep her company on the family homestead. With this final act of love, Meggie ensures that Justine’s life will be different from her own, and from Fiona’s, as Justine will be able to live according to her own desires.