In this Masterpiece Theater production, the barren landscape of rural Australia is as much a character as Jill Ker Conway, upon whose memoirs it's based. Set mostly in the 1950s on a sheep station, the story follows the rise, fall, and rise of the Ker family fortunes. Five-year-old Jill, her older brothers, mother (Juliet Stevenson of Truly, Madly, Deeply), and father (Richard Roxburgh of Moulin Rouge) are happy and business is good. Six years later, it all begins to unravel: Jill's brothers are away at school, business is bad--and then her father is killed in an accident. The tragedy unleashes her mother's worst qualities and things become difficult for everyone. It's as an adult that Jill (portrayed by three different actresses, including Katherine Slattery) finds the strength to escape her mother--and country--to find her voice as an author and as the first female president of Smith College. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
An extraordinary coming-of-age story set in the vast Australian outback

Born in the 1930s on a remote sheep ranch in New South Wales, Jill Ker learns early to love the untamable land—and the allure of books. While her brothers attend boarding school, she stays at Coorain, working beside her beloved father and learning from Eve, her strong-willed mother. Theirs is a stoic family, but years of drought take their toll on Coorain and on the Kers. Jill endures several family tragedies, growing into a young woman of passion and ambition. But Eve buckles under the weight of grief, inspiring her daughter to break free and find her own way.

Winner of numerous awards, this visually lush, emotionally compelling drama is based on the celebrated memoir by historian Jill Ker Conway. Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) delivers an “invariably superb” (The Hollywood Reporter) performance as Eve. Also starring Katherine Slattery (Young Lions), Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge!), and Tim Guinee (Sweet Land).