The Beckoning Shore

{{Infobox book|

| name = The Beckoning Shore

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = File:TheBeckoningShore.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = E. V. Timms

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = Australia

| language = English

| series = Great South Land Saga

| genre =

| publisher = Angus and Robertson

| release_date = 1950

| english_release_date =

| media_type =

| pages =

| isbn =

| preceded_by =The Pathway of the Sun

| followed_by =The Valleys Beyond

}}

The Beckoning Shore is a 1950 novel by E. V. Timms. It was the third in his Great South Land Saga of Australian historical novels, and shifts the action to New South Wales.

It was popular, selling 10,000 copies within its first year.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49049868 |title=Life and Letters. |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=30 August 1952 |accessdate=15 October 2014 |page=24 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{Citation

| title=Not on the Jacket: Census on Literature

| journal=ABC Weekly

| volume=16| issue=24 (12 June 1954

| location=Sydney

| publisher=ABC

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1677799908

| id=nla.obj-1677799908

| access-date=10 March 2024

| via=Trove

}}

Premise

"How the ship Pride of Liverpool became a derelict from which only two of the company were saved, one being the girl Elizabeth Holley, about whom the novel revolves."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48139257 |title=Sydney History |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=66 |issue=20,086 |location=Western Australia |date=2 December 1950 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Reception

The Age said "The entertaining story swings along, a happy way to discuss the convict system and its various unsavory off- shoots and the efforts to control these evils. Occasionally, seeming to be steeped in history, the author halts the narrative to add a slab that holds up the movement for a short space."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206384428 |title=RECENT FICTION |newspaper=The Age |issue=29,905 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 March 1951 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Australian Woman's Mirror said "As ever, Mr. Timms sets his characters against an authentically historic background, in which convictism and its related sordid evils are contrasted with the high ideals of the visionaries and the gaiety of the society of that era. "{{Citation

| title=Let's Talk About Books

| journal=The Australian Woman's Mirror

| volume=27| issue=6 (3 January 1951)

| location=Sydney

| publisher=The Bulletin Newspaper

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-564105102

| id=nla.obj-564105102

| access-date=10 March 2024

| via=Trove

}}

The Bulletin said "Taken at its highest level, the book is a prettv thin story superimposed on pretty thick history; but its total effect is of a very lively picture of Sydney in the days of Governor Bourke."{{Citation

| title=Historians in Costume.

| journal=The Bulletin

| volume=72| issue=3700 (10 Jan 1951)

| location=Sydney, N.S.W

| publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-548705280

| id=nla.obj-548705280

| access-date=10 March 2024

| via=Trove

}}

Radio adaptations

File:The_Beckoning_Shore.png

The novel was serialised for radio in 1951, with Peter Woodruff reading out sections of the novel over fifteen minute episodes.{{Citation

| title=NEW MORNING SERIAL

| journal=ABC Weekly

| volume=13| issue=22 (2 June 1951)

| location=Sydney

| publisher=ABC

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1445498666

| id=nla.obj-1445498666

| access-date=10 March 2024

| via=Trove

}}

The novel was dramatised again for radio in 1953.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206466543 |title=Four New Drama Serials on UZ |newspaper=The Age |issue=30,732 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 October 1953 |accessdate=10 March 2024 |page=1 ("THE AGE" RADIO SUPPLEMENT) |via=National Library of Australia}} These episodes went for one hour. The adaptation was done by Kathleen Carroll who had also adapted Timm's The Pathway of the Sun for radio.{{Citation

| title=The "Backroom" Girls of Radio

| journal=ABC Weekly

| volume=15| issue=35 (29 August 1953)

| location=Sydney

| publisher=ABC

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1549686391

| id=nla.obj-1549686391

| access-date=10 March 2024

| via=Trove

}}