Graham McInnes (1912–1970)

An absolutely marvellous memoir of an Australian childhood in the 1920s. The chapter on a year in Melbourne, rippling with evocative passages on the weather, the architecture, and the exciting - indeed, perilous! - experience of taking a tram ride in those days, is worth the price of admission alone.

Bonus points for anyone who's read Angela Thirkell, the author's English mother and a writer of "middle-class novels for middle-brow tastes", but she is rather out of fashion these days so that show more may be asking too much. show less

For fans of Angela Thirkell, there is a lot of interesting material here. We learn about Angela Thirkell as a wife and mother in Australia during the 1920s.
It is hard to believe Angela ever married an Aussie, what was she thinking? Her life was in upperclass England, mixing with the literati and cultural heights. It makes you wonder if she thought George Thirkell, her second husband, would be a father to her two boys from her first marriage, and if , to put it bluntly, she needed financial show more support.
George didn't stand much chance of providing the cash, although he was obviously happy to take on the father role. Happy that is, until Angela demanded he beat her sons, for various offences. He hated doing this, but was under her thumb. The result was he threw himself into the physical punishments even more than necessary. However, Graham McInnes has fond feelings fior him so the true nature of his affection must have prevailed.
The book follows Graham's life in detail, through the voyage out, the first home with George's mother in Tassie, then the move to Prahran in Melbourne. This was more appealing to Angela, she managed on her own to provide the sort of dinner party or salon that meant so much to her. Famous Australian figures attended, military men, historians, politicians, writers.
She loathed Australia, thinking it far beneath her. The boys were to be moulded in their speech and education, as young English gentlemen. Graham manages to enjoy a lot of Australian life - sleeping outdoors in the sleep out, camping, going to Scouts, even school eventually.
The book concentrates on life as a young boy, told from Graham's point of view. It has a lot of detailed social history in it. The most intriguing parts occur rarely, when we see Angela as he did, or in his later observations. He concluded she was a woman who could not find her heart. She leaves him and her husband behind and returns to England, where she begins her writing career, producing 37 novels in the following years.
It is hard to believe the dominant, strong minded, severe and almost ruthless woman depicted here was responsible for the light hearted social life created in her Barsetshire novels. The idea of love and romance is far removed from her real life here, yet it is a constant theme in her writing. Her son's views have changed my appreciation of her work, as all commentary and analsys does. show less