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It’s 1972. When hot-headed, impetuous Jack Muir gets off the ship in Durban, he fails to get back on. Instead, he sails into misadventure, fleeing the stifling town of Genoralup to try to lose himself in South Africa. But the past has a way of catching up with you, and soon Jack is running again, this time to a kibbutz.

In the course of a lifetime, Jack will travel far, always caught between fleeing from and seeking those things he needs: a mother’s precious gift, the loss of a child, a kind and steady woman.

And, across time and across continents, old Jack Muir will remember those who helped him become a decent man, a better father and a friend.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

‘Jack soaks up enough bracing experience for many lifetimes over, and it’s to Doust’s credit that it all rings true.’ Books+Publishing

‘The title of the trilogy – One Boy’s Journey to Man – is a clear indication of where this book is heading. How it gets there – or more accurately how Jack gets there – is beautifully realised in this narrative about how the persons we love and who love us can steer us towards a better life.’ Queensland Reviewers Collective

‘It’s vivid and episodic, memoir-like fiction, refreshingly free of pretension, that brings together the sharp observational style of the best travel-writing and the clipped voice of a character who’s repeated more than a few years at the school of hard knocks.’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘And I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it … It wasn’t the story of my life, but I wished, sort of, that it could have been.’ Fremantle Shipping News

‘Doust’s book is filled with truth and pain …’ Adelaide Advertiser

‘This is vintage Doust, funny, insightful and compassionate.’ Weekend West