The friendship of two very different men--Digger Keen and Vic Curran--who meet as POWs of the Japanese during World War II becomes a mirror of Australian history during the latter part of the twentieth century Will American readers be interested in slices of Australian life over the last 70 years? Will they be enthralled by two Aussies who meet in a Japanese POW camp? Will they be at all taken by a novel of an old war while a new one rages? Probably not, though they should be. Malouf, who is being touted as the successor to the great Patrick White, has written a wonderfully constructed, beautifully phrased novel that transcends its geography and its time to give us the dramatic interactions between human beings and history. The plot hangs on the friendship between Digger Keen and Vic Curran, representatives of the working class who are altered by war and their country's development. The writing is powerful, engaging, dynamic. This should not be missed. - Vincent D. Balitas, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.