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Aunts up the Cross

by Robin Dalton

Other authors: Dinah Dryhurst (Illustrator), Ben Travers (Foreword)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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872311,599 (3.66)5
My great Aunt Juliet was knocked over and killed by a bus when she was eighty-five. The bus was travelling very slowly in the right direction and could hardly have been missed by anyone except Aunt Juliet, who must have been travelling fairly fast in the wrong direction. Growing up in the 1930s in a grand old home in Sydney's bohemian Kings Cross, Robin Dalton experienced a childhood of curiosity and wonder. Raised by a bevy of idiosyncratic aunts and a revolving door of unconventional houseguests, Dalton recalls a time when children had real adventures in a world not easy but perhaps less complicated than today's. With a gentle warmth and wicked wit, Robin Dalton brings to life all the colour, glamour and charm of Australian society between the wars. Steeped in nostalgia, Aunts Up the Cross is a delightfully funny memoir of family, childhood and an Australia of yesteryear. Robin Dalton was born in Sydney, and has lived in London since 1946. She has been a television performer, an intelligence agent, a literary agent and a film producer (Madame Souzatska starring Shirley Maclaine; Oscar and Lucinda starring Cate Blanchett), as well as an author. Her 1965 account of her childhood in Kings Cross, Aunts up the Cross remains an Australian classic. The previously unpublished My Relations will be released in 2015. 'Hysterically funny.' Jennifer Byrne 'A hugely energetic gallop, nicely complemented by Dinah Dryhurst's spikey, spirited illustrations...[Dalton] lived a technicolour, quite glorious life, which you'll enjoy being diverted by.' New Zealand Herald 'A quirky and hilarious childhood memoir. I haven't laughed so much in years.' Tim Flannery, The Books We Loved 2016, Sydney Morning Herald.… (more)
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Showing 2 of 2
Aunts Up The Cross more than lived up to it's famous opening paragraph! Eccentric, funny, honest and a down to earth gem, it had me smiling most of the time, shaking my head occasionally, and laughing out loud suddenly and often. I'd give my last two bob to live in a household of such loveable, irritating individuals. Robin's father was the runaway favourite character for me in spite of it being about The Aunts! Didn't want it to end.... ( )
  Fliss88 | Jul 10, 2016 |
The author's story of life growing up as part of a large , reasonably well off, eccentric family in Kings Cross in Sydney around the 1930s.
I found the story jumped around a fair bit and with so many personalities introduced in such a short space of time ( the book is only 103 pages) I felt there was still more to be told.
Still it does stir a longing for a time when we lived without constantly fearing something and children explored their world, which is even more obvious now in 2008 than when the book was written in 1965 ( )
  TheWasp | Sep 20, 2008 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Robin Daltonprimary authorall editionscalculated
Dryhurst, DinahIllustratorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Travers, BenForewordsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
James, CliveIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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My great Aunt Juliet was knocked over and killed by a bus when she was eighty-five. The bus was travelling very slowly in the right direction and could hardly have been missed by anyone except Aunt Juliet, who must have been travelling fairly fast in the wrong direction. Growing up in the 1930s in a grand old home in Sydney's bohemian Kings Cross, Robin Dalton experienced a childhood of curiosity and wonder. Raised by a bevy of idiosyncratic aunts and a revolving door of unconventional houseguests, Dalton recalls a time when children had real adventures in a world not easy but perhaps less complicated than today's. With a gentle warmth and wicked wit, Robin Dalton brings to life all the colour, glamour and charm of Australian society between the wars. Steeped in nostalgia, Aunts Up the Cross is a delightfully funny memoir of family, childhood and an Australia of yesteryear. Robin Dalton was born in Sydney, and has lived in London since 1946. She has been a television performer, an intelligence agent, a literary agent and a film producer (Madame Souzatska starring Shirley Maclaine; Oscar and Lucinda starring Cate Blanchett), as well as an author. Her 1965 account of her childhood in Kings Cross, Aunts up the Cross remains an Australian classic. The previously unpublished My Relations will be released in 2015. 'Hysterically funny.' Jennifer Byrne 'A hugely energetic gallop, nicely complemented by Dinah Dryhurst's spikey, spirited illustrations...[Dalton] lived a technicolour, quite glorious life, which you'll enjoy being diverted by.' New Zealand Herald 'A quirky and hilarious childhood memoir. I haven't laughed so much in years.' Tim Flannery, The Books We Loved 2016, Sydney Morning Herald.

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Bohemian life?
Filled with aunts, odd exchanges.
Watch out for the bus. (captainfez)

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