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  • Published: 2 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780143180159
  • Imprint: Peng. Mod. Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 704
  • RRP: $35.00

The Harp in the South Trilogy PMC



'Ruth Park . . . that steady glow at the heart of Australian literature.' Ruth Cracknell

Three of Ruth Park's best loved books – Missus, The Harp in the South and Poor Man's Orange – are brought together in this volume, tracing the saga of the Darcy family over thirty years. The story has its beginnings in the awkward courtship of dreamily innocent Margaret Kilker and unwilling hero Hugh Darcy in the dusty country towns of rural Australia. After their marriage, the couple moves to Sydney and raises a family amid the brothels, grog shops and run-down boarding houses of inner-city Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy. Here their daughter Roie grows up all too quickly, while younger daughter Dolour tries to make sense of a world in which loss and love go hand in hand.

Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, Ruth Park's Australian classics take you from the barren landscapes of the outback to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail and great heart.

  • Published: 2 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780143180159
  • Imprint: Peng. Mod. Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 704
  • RRP: $35.00

About the author

Ruth Park

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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