Suzanne McCourt

This is a lovely, sad novel set in 1950s and 60s regional Australia and telling the story of a young girl's coming of age, as she struggles with a neglectful father, over-stressed mother, grinding poverty and the disappearance of her brother. It's told through the child's eyes, which initially grated on me - I've read too many books recently where part of the narrative charm has been the inability of the narrator to understand things that the reader quickly figures out. I eventually warmed to the narrator, and found a lot to like in McCourt's rendering the natural beauty and harshness of her setting and the struggles of small town working class life.… (more)