The Mango Tree

The Mango Tree is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Ronald McKie.

Synopsis
The story follows the childhood of a young man, named Jamie, growing up in a country town in Australia during the early 20th century.

Critical reception
Hope Hewitt in The Canberra Times found the author to be "an excellent reporter, quickly setting scene and then swiftly changing gear and catching the cxcitement of events moving too quickly for words. The climax of this book when the fanatic Preacher Jones goes round the bend and rampages off with a gun is a gripping piece of narrative. But good documentary and good reportage are not the same as good imaginative fiction. Their purposes are different; and in trying to concentrate as we clearly are meant to, on Jamie's development to whatever sort of person he is going to be, there needs to be a much greater selection and a different scale of proportions among the too rich material Mr McKie has to draw upon."

Awards

 * Miles Franklin Award, 1974
 * Barbara Ramsden Award, 1974

Film Adaptation
In 1977, it was adapted into a film of the same name, directed by Kevin James Dobson, from a script by Michael Pate, and featuring Gerald Fitzgerald, Robert Helpmann and Christopher Pate in the lead roles.