The infidels next door

In July 1934, Frank 'Dodger' Price, a prominent local businessman, rises to his feet in the courtroom of a provincial Australian city. He is charged with attempting to murder Edward Inman, a rough-hewn miner, who shoots angry looks at his adversary from across the courtroom. What led Price to commit this crime? The story begins in 1852 when W.H. Price, Dodger's father, a committed atheist, escapes the stultifying religiosity of his Welsh homeland and sails with his young wife and child for the newly established colony of South Australia. There he plays a key role in establishing the Australian mining industry and becomes a founding member of the Secular Society. On the death of his wife, he rescues Annie Forbes, his much younger Scottish housekeeper, from her violent, drunken husband and they become lovers.