AusReadingMonth25 The Winter Road

This is what illegal  land clearing (deforestation) looks like in NSW, Australia.

by Kate Holden

Finish date: 16.10.2025
Genre: Australian non-fiction
Rating: B
#NonFicNov25

Good News: There is an art to writing the perfect prologue to a book…that will grab and then drag me into the book. Bravo, Kate Holden!

Bad News: I’ve struggled with this book more than I expected. My first impression was not favourable but I let my mind digest this impulse and think more about the book and its broader meaning to somebody who is Australian.

Good News: I learned more about the ecology of the land of Moree Australia and Coppa Creek. It is not easy to understand the deep and complicated relationships Australians have with the land, colonisation and the destruction of the treasured environment that began with European settlement.

Personal: The book has more layers to it than I realised during  my reading. I had to research it more to try to understand why this book won The Walkley Award for Best Book 2021. I’ve read many Walkley winners and trust the jury to know a winner when they see it. Why did I not see that The Winter Road was a winner?

I expected a true crime book similar Helen Garner’s This House of Grief dealing with a legal and criminal case that was riveting to read. Do not expect that in The Winter Road . Ms Holden worked for four years researching documents etc and interviews with people involed to draw attention to the broader issue of land clearing and environmental destruction.

I was not enthusiastic about the book….but later realised Ms Holden was not to hear to please me but explain how deforestation changed Australian lives and shattered families for a generations.