Finding salvation in the killer outback

For a Chinese reader accustomed to dramatic, breath-taking plots, Australian author Alexander McPhee Miller's Landscape of Farewell (2007) is not an enticing choice. But its Chinese translation published this January proves to be a fascinating book as the author leads the reader in a journey of self-salvation.

The opening pages depict Max Otto, an old German professor who recently lost his wife, carefully preparing his suicide after a final reading of a thesis on genocide. But his life is totally changed when Vita McLelland, a feisty Australian academic, harshly criticizes Otto's thesis.

The two strike up a surprising friendship, and Otto is introduced to McLelland's uncle Dougald Gnapun, who turns out to be an Aboriginal community leader.