Wilderness Trek
1944 book
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Wilderness Trek is a 1944 novel by Zane Grey. Unlike most of his novels it was set in Australia. It was published in 1944, after his death in 1939.[1]
Title page for Wilderness Trek (1944) | |
| Author | Zane Grey |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Set in | Australia |
| Publisher | Grossett and Dunlap |
Publication date | 1944 |
| Publication place | USA |
It was based on his trip to Australia and he wrote it in late 1936 to early 1937.[2][3] The book was heavily edited after Grey's death - a revised edition, closer to his original draft, was published in 1999 as The Great Trek.
Premise
Two American cowboys, Red Krehl and Sterl Hazelton, arrive in Australia to help drive a “mob” of cattle through three thousand miles of the outback. They clash with villain, Ash Ormiston.
Reception
Grey's biographer called the book "part Australian travelogue, part western novel, and part pilgrimage, as kangaroos, wallabies, and kookaburras try to steal the scenes from the principal characters. Wilderness Trek is vintage Zane Grey, with Aussie flair added to western gunbattles, fistfights, cattle drives, and maiden-rescues."[4]