Forests of the Night (Cleary novel)

The novel follows a British plastic surgeon who visits his father in Burma and gets involved with a Catholic missionary, a killer tiger and a local rebel leader.^[2]

Cleary visited Burma as part of his research.^[3]

A reviewer in The Sydney Morning Herald found the novel a bit contrived: "The northern Kachin and Shan States of Burma are the background for this competent (almost to the point of being slick) and fairly entertaining novel. It contains some of the usual ingredients for a successful story set in the East: beautiful Eurasian girl of mysterious parentage, tiger hunts, clashes with terrorists, faithful Gunga Din...The story unfolds with the ease of a practised pen, although there is more than a tinge of contrivance in pulling the thresda together."^[4]

At one stage there were plans to make a film version with Dirk Bogarde but this did not eventuate.^[5]

The novel was adapted for Australian radio by Richard Lane. It was one of the last significant commercial Australian radio plays.^[6]

• Forests of the Night^[7] at AustLit (subscription required)
• 1963 in Australian literature