In Lightning Ridge, Ion Idriess tells of his beginnings, of his childhood in Lismore and Tamworth and Broken Hill, of his apprenticeship in bushcraft and of the growing love for the Australian outback which illumines all his work. He tells of the jobs he had-as rouseabout, horse breaker, horse tailer, shearer-and of how his wanderings brought him to the opal mines at Lightning Ridge. The romance of opals, with their heartbreaks and their sudden wild exultations. And the stories he tells of his mates are little gems in themselves, vivid in characterization, rich in sympathy and understanding.