Digger

'Digger' is the story of a foreigner arriving unannounced and ill-equipped in an outback mining town that boomed and died before the Great War began, a town whose sole remnants are eight buildings, 13 people and a pub. All around is ruin, mining waste, waterless scrub . . . and the world's purest gold.

Anderson spins a break-neck account of adventure and adversity as he tries to join the remarkable band of men who detect metal for a living. Ex-truckie Ron snarls about bastard, gold-filching tourists; veteran treasure hunter Lazy Les drawls bar-room advice while strumming air guitar with AC/DC; and pub owner Kevin quietly surveys all through a haze of cigarillo smoke.

Digging between the abandoned shafts, Anderson unearths superstitions and secrets, as well as stories of the original desert diggers who struck as much misery as they did gold. But ultimately he dips deep into a small town's psyche and - risking his relationship and his self-respect - down to the bedrock of an age-old obsession.