On her parents' 30,000 acre farm in the Australian Outback, 10-year-old Jill Ker Conway learned to herd the sheep because World War II had taken away the able-bodied men. When her father dies unexpectedly, Conway and her mother moved to Sydney, a place that feels frantic compared to the life they had known. In this 1994 memoir, Conway reflects on the challenges of caring for her emotionally devastated mother and contending with her own self-destructive impulses, but also finding the strength to begin life anew and embark upon a joyous love affair.