Helen McDonald

A successful Australian writer discovers he has cancer and returns home to Melbourne to be with his estranged wife and daughter.

Two childhood friends who marry brothers in the Army soon discover that their lives will take a different path from what they first expected.

During the 1860s, Dave Powers, apprentice to a horse trainer, volunteers to ride Archer to the Melbourne Cup race. Their start is 600 miles from Melbourne, and the journey is anything but easy. Of course, the pair have numerous adventures along the way, and in the end Archer competes in the Melbourne Cup race.