In a dazzling act of ventriloqusm,Peter Carey gives Ned Kelly a voice so wild, passionate and original that it is impossible not to believe that the famous bushranger himself is speaking from beyond the grave. True History of the Kelly Gang is the song of Australia, and it sing sits protest in a voice at once crude and delicate, menacing and heart-wrenching. Carey gives Ned Kelly as Orphan, as Oedipus, as horse thief, farmer, bushrange, reformer, bank-robber, police-killer and finally, as his country`s beloved Robin Hood. `Peter Carey has produced some very fine novels before now, but this, I would say, is his finest` - `[Peter Carey is] without question the prre-eminent literary voice of post-colonial Australia, he loves to take risks.` Guardian `Ned`s voice is the book and it is what makes the book wonderful. It is utterly convincing and continually surprising, creating new pleasures on every page. It is simple, direct, colloquial, humorous, respectfully prudish and shot through with poetry.` - Observer