Kylie Tennant's novels are known for their vitality and social realism, and The Missing Heir is in the same tradition. Wicked pen-portraits of her forebears and parents set the scene before the narrative moves on to Kylie herself.The story of her life unfolds vividly. Kylie Tennant has never done the easy or the obvious thing. It is hardly surprising to read that the writer who went to jail so that she could write about it accurately, and who tramped the dusty roads of the outback during the depression, was a misfit at school and hated her first job. The thread of the Missing Heir runs through the book. Kylie Tennant relates her father's attachment to the romantic idea of himself as the Missing Heir of the Tennant Clan. As a small girl she scorned this pretentious notion, and others like it, and set about asserting her independence. In time she herself, then her son and her son's son all became the Missing Heir in their turn. Kylie Tennant's life has been restless, sometimes difficult and tragic. Yet she has given us wonderful books capturing the broad canvas of Australian people, society and landscapes. In this book she has given us another - The Missing Heir.
