Set in Australia, a landscape scarred by a troubled past, The Custodians tells the stories of a group of friends as they move away from their shared world. These are the custodians, but of what, and for whom? The Custodians is a dramatic and powerful novel about friendship, love, betrayal and history: an intimate portrait of a generation of people who belong to a land that does not belong to them. 'A brilliantly vivid tapestry of the Australian predicament, rich in possibility, but shot through with accident and revelation. Through it all breathes the ancient reality of the land: its red earth and bright air painted with the sure hand of a master' Simon Schama 'Epic in its architecture, richly filigreed with intimate and erotic detail, The Custodians ...catches you gasping with joy of recognition and shock of surprise in its revelations of an Australian generation's experience. I love this book' Scott Hicks, writer/director of Shine 'In Nicholas Jose's highly enjoyable new novel, a panoramic lens sweeps across a whole Australian generation ...This fine book is an anatomy lesson of a land and its people as they were and are, and a spritely, often amused and amusing rendering of modern mores: not just a book about identity and sense of place, but about loyalty to one's place' Catherine Storey, Independent 'A novel of characters but also of ideas that takes us to the heart of Australia now' David Malouf