{"product_id":"home-before-dark","title":"Home before dark","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedContent__text TruncatedContent__text--medium TruncatedContent__text--expanded\" data-testid=\"contentContainer\" tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eRuth Park was a New Zealand-born author, who spent most of her life in Australia. She was born in Auckland, and her family later moved to Te Kuiti further south in the North Island of New Zealand, where they lived in isolated areas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"col col3\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"readmore\" data-height=\"256\"\u003eWho was Les Darcy? How did the young boxer become one of Australia's most revered sporting icons? Can the real person be found behind the myths and misinformation that have accumulated since his birth in 1895? Ruth Park and Rafe Champion have brought alive this high-spirited young champion, showing how his life was shaped by momentous events abroad and desperate personalities at home.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"col col3 information-purchase\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"pricing clear\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eRuth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePark received awards in Australia and internationally.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Dromkeen Medal.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eHardcover\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eGreat used condition. Some marks.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eSold as is \/ no returns\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Mount Vic and Me","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44555654496343,"sku":"Home before dark 5126","price":30.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0584\/0954\/9911\/files\/home-before-dark.jpg?v=1792833724","url":"https:\/\/mountvicandme.com\/products\/home-before-dark","provider":"Mount Vic and Me","version":"1.0","type":"link"}