ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Elliott in his lifetime was a famed writer for stage and screen in America, where he had emigrated to after WWII. He wrote a number of popular and acclaimed novels - some like this one turned into successful movies or screenplays - and all of which have been out of print for ages, and some unjustly faded from consciousness. This was his first novel, and won the Miles Franklin in 1963, and is very closely based on his own life. PS lives with his Aunt Lila in working-class and Depression-era Neutral Bay. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father drifted off without any concern for his son. PS is happy enough, until his beautiful Aunt Vanessa decides that she should have custody of him. She's returned from London and taken a house in privileged Port Piper, and she can give him all the material things Lila can't. PS is pulled between his beloved aunties, and a court case ensues - but can anyone ever win when family is involved? A novel which gives rich textures to a Sydney of the past, and is still an absorbing study of family dynamics and the powerlessness of childhood. Lindy
-----
'Oh, aren't you lucky, PS.' 'Goodness, what a lucky boy.' 'What a treat!' 'Your Aunt Vanessa is coming.' Vanessa was coming all the way from England back to Australia and she was coming on a piano boat. It's the Great Depression. Six-year-old PS is an orphan. He lives in Sydney with his Aunt Lila. But all that is about to change. Now his Aunt Vanessa has decided to take proper care of him. Careful, He Might Hear You is one of the most extraordinary portraits of childhood in Australian fiction.
By:
Sumner Locke Elliot Introduction by:
Robyn Nevin [intro] Imprint: Text Publishing Company Country of Publication: Australia Dimensions:
Height: 198mm,
Width: 128mm,
Spine: 38mm
Weight: 344g ISBN:9781921922244 ISBN 10: 1921922249 Publication Date:26 April 2012 Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
Winner of Miles Franklin Award 1963 (Australia)
Winner of Miles Franklin Literary Award 1963 (Australia)
