Gary is an author with quite a range of life experience. I have no doubt he is no stranger to holding a weapon. He is also no stranger to telling a good story. Down a Country Lane tells us a bit about life in Australia. What is so amazing is Gary’s ability to describe personality. Almost any one of us could describe a color for a wall, or a beautiful car, even something as gruesome as a bloody wound. Gary takes the outer shell of a person, and puts you inside the shell so that they are no longer just a character on the page. Now you understand what’s going on inside their head.
I had to smile at the description of his father,
“My father always had a vision. Unfortunately the vision was generally a moving target and was therefore never something he could run to ground; but he was always after a new idea to make money”
His father was obviously not a person to sit around. He might have made life a little difficult at times, starting one new thing after another, but in that perseverance of spirit, we learn what it takes to live in that elusive space called the “bush”.
There is something very special in learning how a person lives from a first person perspective, and through the agony of toothaches, money schemes, hunger, and going to war we can see Gary going through stages in his life. As each stage resolved itself, Gary recognizes it, and mentally moves on. At the end of the book, I had a pretty tight throat and instead of shaking my head and saying “inspirational” I felt like I just wanted to go out back on the porch, drink a beer, and sit with my own self for awhile. There isn’t any bragging in this book though there were a few really good decisions made. I felt as if this book is an acknowledgment of his life and the people in it.
This story is packed, and when I say packed, I mean it. It is 690 pages filled with a walk through a mans life. How do you put a value on that? It’s priced at 20.00 at Amazon. I would have paid 40.00 to read this story. I really would have. If you never read another book about Australia, you should read this. It is an honest, hearfelt, and loving reminder of reality. I recommend this for readers over the age of 16 as it does contain references to violence, sex, and death. It has some pretty painful, but honest descriptions of the Vietnam War. I can see this being used as a teaching tool as well. The editing is completely sound.
You can have faith that this book is worth its price tag. I will remember the story for a very, very long time.

Down a Country Lane is available at Amazon

And through the publisher ebookit