"Gripped by Drought is a powerful story of a man's battle not only with the elements of nature which threatened the ruin of his huge Australian sheep-farm, but also with a loveless and unhappy marriage. For Frank Mayne, master of well-nigh a million-acre sheep station, life assumed its most dreary aspect. No rain for his farm, a wife who involved him in an orgy of spending and entertainment, and with disaster just around the corner, there seemed little prospect of happiness. Yet in the darkest hour of all, after many unexpected and sometimes thrilling situations, the darkest and sometimes thrilling situations, the darkest hour of the drought gave way to rain and Mayne's tribulation became of the past." - from the 1932 edition

"THERE is no greater Australian drama than a three years' drought, and such a drought, associated with drought in the human heart, is the theme of this plain tale for plain people.
The course of this fictitious drought is based on the course of a real drought. I have followed the weather records over an actual three-year drought period, and no city critic can say that such a drought is impossible. Similarly, I have followed actual wool prices over the same period. And finally, the succession of mental phases which the "new-chum" in the bush must live through, or else desert to a city, is real and based on personal experience.
I should like to add that my original title for this work was the one all-sufficient word Drought. It was found, however, that already a novel under this title was in circulation, so that regretfully the present more sensational title was substituted." - from the author's preface

Location: Atlas Station (fictional) with the closest town being Menindee, NSW.

Printed by Hutchinson of London in 1928 and by Dorance of Philadelphia in 1929. Reprinted by Dennis McMillan in 1990.