In a dazzling act of imaginative empathy, Peter Carey gives the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly a voice so wild, passionate and original that it is difficult not to believe that the infamous bushranger himself is speaking from beyond the grave. Told in the form of a journal justifying himself to the daughter he would never meet, this extraordinary work is the song of Australia, voicing its heart-wrenching protest. Here is Kelly the orphan, the horse thief, the robber, killer and, finally, his country's beloved Robin Hood.