Reviews

An Australian bestseller in 1992, this memoir of a woman's adventure-filled life is marred by a lack of insight. Born in 1936 in comfortable circumstances only slightly mitigated by the specter of WW II deprivation, Henderson grew up playing tennis competitively. When she was 19, massive injuries in a car accident crushed her hopes for a life on the circuit but made her tough and resourceful. When Charles Henderson III appeared, he was a slightly mysterious American whom the author describes as a war hero and shipping magnate. After their 1960 wedding in Hong Kong, the couple moved to Manila. When the shipping business failed, the family--by then rounded out with three young daughters--was forced to move to a million-acre ranch Charles acquired in the remote and rugged Northern Territory. At the Bullo River Cattle Station, Sara fixed water pumps, killed crocodiles, rode in cattle "musters" (roundups) and managed the ranch. In her telling, Charles, who was often distracted or unfaithful, brought her to the verge of a breakdown many times. Taking full charge of the station after her husband's illness in 1986, Henderson, with the help of her daughters, has run the place successfully enough to become Australia's Businesswoman of 1990 and a familiar figure in the Australian media. B&w photos. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.