In a dazzling act of ventriloquism 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 sings its protest in a voice at once crude and delicate menacing and heart-wrenching. Carey gives us Ned Kelly as orphan as Oedipus as horse thief farmer bushranger reformer bank-robber police-killer and finally as his countrys beloved Robin Hood.
