Customer Reviews (5)

A Great Read!!
I recently read this Australian classic and loved every page. Set in the 1940's it gives a realistic view of Sydney's Surrey Hills. Life was hard for the Darcy Family but I found this book truly uplifting. The ending is fantastic and the feelings expressed by the characters could easily apply to today. I highly recommend The Harp in the South.

it was very relistic
Harp in the South givs the readers an overview of what happened in the early 1940's in the city of sydney and the suburb of surry hills. the darcey family tell a story of what happened during there days at plymonthstreet and it shows us the experience they had during their lives insydney.Harp in the South experiences alot of pain, hardship and the joysand saddness that people of the lower middle class experience........

ARE YOU KIDDING
This is the biggist load of crud I have eva read in my life, 3 kids in my class commited suicide when reading this book.

This is an absolutely brilliant portrayl of Surry Hills
Really this is a great book i have newver before seen something that can so easily empty my stomach and I am just amazed that such a gory description of death and murder can be written in english beats a trip tothe morgue anyday

This is an absolutely brilliant portrayl of Surry Hills
Really this is a great book i have newver before seen something that can so easily empty my stomach and I am just amazed that such a gory description of death and murder can be written in english beats a trip tothe morgue anyday ... Read more

Product Description
Nothing is going right for ten-year old Callie - she has fought with her best friend, her sister and brothers torment her, and the new house is a letdown. She longs to see Grandpa Cameron who lives on the other side of the city, so that he can put things right - which is exactly what he does. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A book about a girl who is growing up and needs space
A very distressed and unhappy girl named Callie Cameron faces challenges associated with her new home and her nasty brothers and sister.

Callie is on a quest to find her grandpa because she thinks that he might be ableto help her sovle all her problems.

Callie's Castle is a book about agirl who's growing up and needs her own space.

When she finds her grandpahe decides to build her a room which looks like a castle.

Is Callie'sgrandpa going to solve all her problems?

Will the Castle help her? ... Read more

Product Description
Callie is growing up, but she still has her own private "castle" in the attic. Soon she will be too big to squeeze up the tiny staircase. How can she bear to give up her special place? Then a letter from Denmark throws her family into turmoil. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

AN OK Family
Quite a good novel about a young girl called Callie,growing up in a step family. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1949 as the sequel to the award-winning "The Harp in the South", this novel continues the story of the Darcy family of Sydney. The author also wrote "Swords and Crowns and Rings", which won the Miles Franklin Award. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:III"FOOL PROOF"It will be remembered that it had been our intention to buy a cheap car. However, we did not, because Ruth decided that this would not be so economical as we had supposed! First, we looked at the smallest and cheapest car on the market. It was a two-cylinder, not much larger than a perambulator, and as noisy as a donkey- engine. The salesman said that for himself he did not care for one of those perfectly silent cars: "There is too much danger of accidents. You come upon people suddenly, before they have time to jump, and the first thing you know you have a ten-thousand-dollar suit on your hands. But with this car there is no such danger, for people have time to get out of the way before they are hurt." I must say this impressed me, but Ruth, who knows nothing of the dangers of driving, remarked that she did not think people would be much hurt if that car did hit them. "Besides," she added, "no conversation would be possible in such a car."The man replied that there was not much chancein a car where you were blowing the Klaxon allthe time. "And, now," he said, "let me giveyou a demonstration." To this we agreed, butas there was room for but one besides the driver, he suggested that I should try it first. So I chugged round the block while the demonstrator explained how many miles "she" would do on a gallon, and how little oil it took to lubricate "her." But when it came Ruth's turn, the engine stalled, and no power would move it. So we did not buy that one.Well, we looked at many cars of many makes, but the cheap ones were uncomfortable, and the comfortable ones were too dear, and I was almost in despair, for the time was passing and I felt that I must have a little time to practise driving before starting on such a journey as we had plan... ... Read more

Product Description
Wombat and his inseparable friends - the motherly and practical Mouse, and Tabby Cat whose pride, along with his tabby coat, is always being ruffled - began their careers in a daily children's serial on ABC radio. Since then their delightful adventures in the popular series of Muddle-Headed Wombat books have entertained thousands of children in many parts of the world.

This paperback edition brings together four stories, "The Muddle-Headed Wombat", "The Muddle-Headed Wombat at School", "The Muddle-Headed Wombat on Holiday", and "The Muddle-Headed Wombat in the Treetops" all presented with Noela Young's lively illustrations.

To both parents and children, Wombat is an irresistible character and he and his mates will endure to bring pleasure to many generations more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

One of a kind
I was read this book as a child as my mother is Australian and brought it back from a trip there.I had such distinct and fond memories of just laughing hysterically at this book, and after I discovered I had lost it, I went on an all-out search for it a few years ago.It was actually very hard to find at the time, but I did get a copy and reading it as an adult is just as good as when I was young -- probably due to the excellent humor and writing as well as the nostalgia.

family treasure
Our children's grandfather brought this treasure home as a gift when he visited Australia almost 20 years ago. Our four kids are grown, but when we are all home for an occasion, we still can sit and read out-loud from this delightful book.We have been known to laugh until we truly cry at the antics of these very human and endearing characters.I rate it with Winnie-the-Pooh as the best ever, for children AND adults.

Buying a second copy
We originally bought this piece of classic Austrailian children's literature back in 1992.That book has worn out from use and we are purchasing a second at the request of the children.It is similar to Winnie-the-Pooh, although Wombat can get a little stubborn sometimes.We find it very humorous. ... Read more

Product Description
An Australian time-travelling classic where Sydney girl Abigail suddenly finds herself back in the early nineteenth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Quick Review (no plot points)
This is fantastically written. The language is creative and the structure is tight. I had to read it for a Children's Lit class and I loved it. I only hope I can find more by this impressive author. If you enjoy scrappy female characters and imperfect people this story is for you.

One of my favorite timeslip novels - and I'm picky!
A young girl follows a strangely-dressed urchin and winds up in Victorian-era Sydney. I love the sardonic 14-year-old protagonist in this. When an annoying sickly boy says if he lives to his next birthday he'll be 10, she thinks to herself, `Why bother?" When he tells her she's ugly, she evenly replies that he's not a dazzler himself. The author gives the character such honesty and perceptiveness and a realistically contradictory balance of wry toughness and confused vulnerability, it seemed like one of the most real literary voices I've ever heard.

Great details about the era without feeling forced in or a like a history lesson -- just observed with interest and wonder, and then growing acclimation.

The ending is very satisfying -- the loose ends are tied up with a "Bow," you might say.

Australian SF Reader
A girl from the current time, as far as the book is concerned, finds an artifact, presumably supernatural, and ends up transported back in time to the later 19th century.

She has to adjust to this life, and the family she ends up living with, and the book follows her rapid maturity and relationships.

Loved it!!
I bought this book when I was 11 years old. I started to read it a few times but always ended putting it back down after the first chapter or two. As a kid I thought it was kinda boring and I couldn't understand the old English dialect. However..........I am now 25 years old and a week ago I picked up the book again (something told me to keep it all these years)and read the entire book. I am so glad I kept it!! It was so good. I recommend this book to everyone who likes to read. And, if it is boring the first time, keep it and then try again. That worked for me!!

A thoroughly absorbing and often terrifying time-slip fantasy
Young Abigail is a fairly typical teenager--blind to the needs of her mother that seem to run contrary to her own needs, and yet concerned enough over the frazzled, tired look on the face of the woman next door to take the neighbour's children, Natalie and Vincent, off her hands for a while. They go to the park where other children are playing a game they call Beatie Bow. Both Natalie and Abigail are very taken by a strange girl that Natalie calls "the little furry girl", who is closely watching the game. But the little girl flees, squawking, when they talk to her. Later, wearing a dress she has made from some Victorian crochet lace, Abigail sees the little furry girl again. When the child flees from her she follows--to soon find herself in streets she no longer recognises.

Young readers might find this time-slip novel a little slow to start, even for a book published in the 1980s, but if they persist they will soon find themselves in a thoroughly absorbing, and often terrifying, tale. While it might have surprised Abigail that the undersized, illiterate girl who was always screeching "I'll punch ye yeller and green!" became someone of considerable importance, I doubt young readers will be surprised. Beatie Bow is a thoroughly unforgettable character and Ruth Park's prose is always a joy to read.

It made me sad to see the reviews here posted by students who were forced to "study" the book at school. This is a serious disservice to everyone concerned because all it's likely to do is turn young people against reading. Fiction should be for fun not for study. ... Read more