The harp in the south

This is one of my most favourite books!

Since it was first published in 1948, this compassionate novel has become a favourite with generations of Australian readers.

The Harp in the South is a nostalgic and moving portrait of the eventful family life of the Darcys of Number Twelve-and-a-Half Plymouth Street in Surry Hills, a Sydney slum. There grow the bitter-sweet first and last loves of Roie Darcy, who becomes a woman too quickly amid the brothels and the razor gangs, the tenements and the sly-grog shops.

Ruth Park is a classic storyteller. In this novel she brings to life a community where, despite the odds, life is always exuberant and full of promise.

'What an Australian classic. This story captures the essence of the hard life of the Darcy family, Sydney in the mid nineteen hundreds. They were poor and down trodden, they did not have anything to their names. What they did have in spades was a lot of love amongst the mess and slum that existed in Surry Hills during that time. Teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, racism (as I listened to an audio version I didn't take notes. But I loved a line between to young people in love discussing marriage, and wondering how the 'black skipped a couple of generations') and poverty was in abundance but this family loved each other and we were left with the impression they were wanting for nothing. The imagery of a young couple honeymooning in Narrabeen with pure delight was lovely. A short classic story, if readers haven't sought this genre before I'd recommend it. Excellent writing and it seems to me a perfectly captured era of the slums and mess and overwhelming love of a family who had naught in the way of materialistic pleasures. Maybe the youth of Australia could learn some things here.' -
Suz, Goodreads

Softcover

Condition: lightly used

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