{"description": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. Set primarily on Drogheda \u2013 a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback named after Drogheda, Ireland \u2013 the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans the years 1915 to 1969."}, "key": "/works/OL1882556W", "title": "The Thorn Birds", "first_publish_date": "September 1998", "authors": [{"author": {"key": "/authors/OL225331A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}, {"author": {"key": "/authors/OL9465374A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}], "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "covers": [8293225, 12193630], "lc_classifications": ["PR'9619.3'M32'T514'1978"], "first_sentence": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday."}, "subject_places": ["Australia", "New Zealand", "Rome", "the Vatican", "England", "Greece", "Drogheda", "Outback", "ao da li ya"], "dewey_number": ["823"], "subjects": ["Fiction, Romance", "Clergy", "Catholic Church", "Catholics", "Clergy in fiction", "Catholics in fiction", "Catholic Church in fiction", "Australia, fiction", "Man-woman relationships, fiction", "American Love stories", "Australian fiction", "epic fiction", "religious fiction", "romantic fiction", "love stories", "Fiction, sagas", "Fiction, romance, historical", "Catholic church, clergy, fiction", "English fiction", "Priests", "American Romance fiction", "Anglais (langue)", "Lectures et morceaux choisis", "Roman am\u00e9ricain", "Chang pian xiao shuo", "Clergy, fiction", "Fiction,  Families, Fiction", "romance", "historical", "general\"", "Readers", "Romans, nouvelles", "Clerg\u00e9", "\u00c9glise catholique"], "links": [{"title": "The Thorn Birds - Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thorn_Birds", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Old flames", "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/aug/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview21", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "For A Sheltered Teen, 'Thorn Birds' Was A Much-Needed Eye-Opener", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/06/286876905/for-a-sheltered-teen-thorn-birds-was-a-much-needed-eye-opener", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Remembering 'Thorn Birds' Author Colleen McCullough", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/01/29/382475666/remembering-thorn-birds-author-colleen-mccullough", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Colleen McCullough's 'The Thorn Birds' Is A Total Classic, And Here Are 6 Reasons You Need To Revisit It Right Now", "url": "https://www.bustle.com/articles/61501-colleen-mcculloughs-the-thorn-birds-is-a-total-classic-and-here-are-6-reasons-you-need", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "subject_people": ["Padraic Cleary", "Fiona Cleary", "the Clearys", "Meggie Cleary", "Ralph de Bricassart", "Francis Cleary", "Justine O'Neill", "Mary Elizabeth Cleary Carson", "Luke O'Neill", "Dane O'Neill", "Luddie Muller", "Anne Mueller", "Bob Cleary", "Jack Cleary", "Hughie Cleary", "Stuart Cleary", "Harold Cleary", "James Cleary", "Patrick Cleary", "Rainer Moerling Hartheim", "Vittorio di Contini-Verchese"], "excerpts": [{"excerpt": "On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday.", "comment": "first sentence", "author": {"key": "/people/seabelis"}}], "subject_times": ["1915-1917", "1921-1969", "xian dai"], "latest_revision": 24, "revision": 24, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2009-12-09T22:30:45.794139"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-02-12T20:38:03.558633"}}