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The Harp in the South: Popular Penguins

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Harp in the South by Ruth Park depicts the life of the Darcy family in the slums of Surry Hills, Sydney, during the post-war era. The novel explores the daily struggles, resilience, and intricate relationships of this Irish Catholic family as they navigate the challenges of poverty, love, and hope amidst an ever-changing urban landscape. Through vivid storytelling, the book offers a heartfelt insight into community life and the human spirit.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$1599
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to richly woven narratives exploring family life, love, and struggles within a working-class community. Ruth Park's evocative storytelling captures the essence of life in Sydney's slums in the 1940s, offering both heartache and humour. Ideal for readers who appreciate characters with depth and stories that delve into the resilience of the human spirit.

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Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops and rundown boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy. This Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail and great heart.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops, and rundown boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy.

Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail, and great heart.

The Harp in the South: Popular Penguins by Ruth Park is a vivid exploration of community and resilience in tough times.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780143202752

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 June 2009

Country: Australia

Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 112.0mm

Height: 179.0mm

Weight: 136g

Pages: 240

About the Author

Born in New Zealand, Ruth Park came to Australia in 1942 to continue her career as a journalist. She married the writer D'Arcy Niland and travelled with him through the north-west of New South Wales before settling in Sydney where she became a full-time writer. She has written over fifty books, and her many awards include the prestigious Miles Franklin Award for Swords and Crowns and Rings; the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (USA) for Playing Beatie Bow and The Age Book of the Year Award for A Fence Around the Cuckoo. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1987 and in 1994 was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of New South Wales. Ruth Park passed away in December 2010.

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  • A Fence Around the Cuckoo
    This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing, and the bitter years of the Depression. She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer. In 1942, Park moved...
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  • Fishing in the Styx: Text Classics
    Following on from A Fence around the Cuckoo, this is the second volume of autobiography by one of Australia's best storytellers, Ruth Park, author of The Harp in the South and the Miles Franklin-winning Swords and Crowns and Rings. Born in New Zealand, Ruth Park came to Australia to continue her work as a journalist, newly married to D'Arcy Niland....
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  • Playing Beatie Bow
    A thrilling adventure story for children and young adults by Ruth Park, Playing Beatie Bow follows Abigail as she suddenly finds herself in the Sydney of a hundred years ago as the result of a scary game.
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  • The Harp in the South Trilogy PMC
    The gritty realism of family life lived in the poverty-stricken slum of inner Sydney's Surry Hills during the 1940s. Also includes Missus and Poor Man's Orange.
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  • The Muddleheaded Wombat
    The Muddleheaded Wombat combines, in one edition, four of Ruth Park's much-loved classics: The Muddleheaded Wombat (1962), The Muddleheaded Wombat on Holiday (1964), The Muddleheaded Wombat in the Treetops (1965) and The Muddleheaded Wombat at School (1966). Featuring one of Australia's most adored children's book characters of all time, these stories have never been out of print. This paperback edition...
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  • Swords and Crowns and Rings
    Growing up in an Australian country town before World War I, Jackie Hanna and Cushie Moy are carefree and innocent in their love for each other. But Jackie is a dwarf, and his devotion to the beautiful Cushie is condemned by her parents. This is the story of their lifelong odyssey, and of the triumph of a special kind of...
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  • Playing Beatie Bow: Popular Penguins
    The game is called Beatie Bow, and the children play it for the thrill of scaring themselves. But when Abigail is drawn in, the game is quickly transformed into an extraordinary, sometimes horrifying, adventure as she finds herself transported to a place that is foreign yet strangely familiar... Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park offers a mesmerising journey that combines...
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  • When the Wind Changed
    A fresh new edition of a timeless classicAges: 4+ Josh is a little boy who likes to make faces. He practises his scary faces every day. If only Josh had listened when his father told him what would happen when the wind changed!Ages 4+
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    The captivating tale of time travel and adventure as a beautiful clothbound hardback, part of the Penguin Modern Australian Classics series. It's Beatie Bow - risen from the dead! The game is called Beatie Bow and the children play it for the thrill of scaring themselves. But when Abigail is drawn in, the game is quickly transformed into an extraordinary,...
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