Drylands is set in a small, fading outback town in Australia called Drylands, a place that feels cut off from the rest of the country both physically and emotionally. The town is suffering from drought, economic decline, and a steady loss of population as younger people leave in search of better opportunities. From the very beginning, Drylands is presented as a harsh and dispiriting environment. The land is dry and unforgiving, and the people who remain are worn down by years of disappointment, boredom, and frustration. The town becomes a symbol of stagnation and decay, reflecting the emotional emptiness of many of its residents.

The novel centres on Janet Deakin, a former schoolteacher who returns to Drylands after years away. Janet is disillusioned with her own life and career. She has experienced personal failure and emotional disappointment, and coming back to Drylands is not exactly a hopeful homecoming. However, unlike many of the town’s residents, Janet still believes in the value of education, reading, and imagination. She becomes increasingly aware of how culturally “starved” the town is. There are few opportunities for intellectual or creative engagement, and most people seem trapped in narrow routines that leave little room for reflection or growth.

Moved by this sense of cultural emptiness, Janet decides to open a bookshop and informal library in Drylands. Her plan is simple but idealistic: she hopes that access to books will encourage people to read, think, and perhaps imagine lives beyond the limits of the town. In her mind, books represent possibility, escape, and emotional nourishment. The bookshop becomes her personal project and, symbolically, her attempt to resist the spiritual dryness of the place. Janet imagines that literature might offer the town a small chance of renewal, or at least provide comfort to individuals who feel lonely or trapped.

As Janet settles into the town, the novel introduces a series of interconnected stories about the people who live in Drylands. Rather than following a single dramatic storyline, the novel builds its plot through these fragments of everyday life, slowly creating a portrait of a community in decline. We meet various townspeople whose lives are shaped by frustration, failed relationships, economic hardship, and a sense of being stuck. Some characters cling to bitterness and resentment, blaming others or the town itself for their misfortunes. Others live in quiet despair, going through the motions of daily life without much hope that anything will change.

Many of the characters feel trapped by Drylands. The younger residents often dream of leaving, seeing the town as a place with no future. However, for various reasons—lack of money, family responsibilities, fear of change—they remain stuck. Older residents, on the other hand, tend to be more resigned. They have lived in Drylands for so long that they can barely imagine another way of life. This creates a mood of emotional suffocation throughout the novel. People are physically present in the town, but emotionally disconnected from one another. Genuine communication and empathy are rare, and many relationships are strained by long-standing grudges, disappointments, and misunderstandings.

Janet’s interactions with the townspeople reveal the town’s anti-intellectual culture. Many residents are suspicious of books, reading, and “ideas.” Some see reading as useless or impractical in a place where survival and routine work dominate everyday life. Others simply have no habit of reading and feel uncomfortable with anything that challenges their familiar ways of thinking. Janet’s bookshop is met largely with indifference. A few people wander in out of curiosity, but there is no real enthusiasm for what she is trying to offer. This response deeply frustrates Janet, who had hoped—perhaps naïvely—that people would welcome the opportunity to engage with literature.

The bookshop gradually comes to represent the clash between hope and reality. For Janet, it is a personal act of resistance against despair. She wants to believe that culture and imagination still matter, even in a place like Drylands. However, the town’s lack of response highlights how deeply entrenched the community’s apathy and emotional dryness have become. The people of Drylands are not simply uninterested in books; they are weary, defensive, and often hostile toward anything that suggests change. In this sense, Janet’s failure is not just personal but symbolic of the broader failure of renewal in a town that has lost faith in the future.

Throughout the novel, Astley presents Drylands as a place where emotional cruelty and indifference have become normal. People speak harshly to one another, gossip spreads easily, and compassion is in short supply. The harsh physical environment seems to shape the emotional lives of the residents. The drought-stricken land mirrors the lack of warmth and generosity in human relationships. Even moments that could lead to connection or understanding often dissolve into misunderstanding or quiet disappointment. The tone of the novel remains largely bleak, with only brief glimpses of tenderness or hope.

As time passes, Janet becomes increasingly aware that her project is failing. The bookshop does not become the lively cultural centre she imagined. Instead, it stands as a lonely outpost of intellectual life in a town that has little use for it. Janet herself grows more isolated. Her initial optimism fades as she realises that she cannot change the town or its people. The emotional weight of this realisation is heavy: she must confront the limits of her own idealism and accept that good intentions are not always enough to overcome deeply rooted social and cultural problems.

By the end of the novel, Drylands offers no neat resolution or hopeful transformation. The town remains in decline, and the people continue to live within the same patterns of frustration, bitterness, and emotional dryness. Janet’s attempt to bring literature and imagination into Drylands ultimately fails, reinforcing the novel’s pessimistic view of the town’s future. However, the failure itself is meaningful. It exposes how neglected and spiritually impoverished the community has become. The novel suggests that when a society loses interest in stories, reflection, and empathy, it also loses part of its humanity.

The title Drylands works on multiple levels. Literally, it refers to the drought-stricken outback setting. Symbolically, it describes the emotional and spiritual barrenness of the town and its people. The land is dry, but so are the hearts and minds of many who live there. Through Janet Deakin’s story and the fragmented lives of the townspeople, Thea Astley paints a powerful and unsettling portrait of rural decline, isolation, and the fragile place of culture in a community that has lost hope.