Colin Thiele has written a carefully documented book [Albatross two] about the effects of an off-shore oil rig on a remote bay in south Australia. Everything is black and white and the oil men are condemned before they take to sea…. One knows the dangers of oil pollution but no-where in this book is there any attempt to evaluate. The characters are stereotypes—Tina is the girl who loves birds—one realises from the opening chapter the fate that lies in store for her tame penguin Piglet, and her brother Link who goes to work on the rig and has a secret sympathy for the oil men. Many of the characters have impossible nicknames and speak in almost unreadable dialect, both of which factors irritated me enormously. I am sure the technicalities are correct but the book lacked a soul and was therefore for me a failure.

Joan...