In Herrick's (A Place Like This
) atmospheric tale written in verse, Harry Hodby's first-person narration captures the ups and downs of life with his widowed father and younger brother in a small Australian town. His father named him after escape artist Harry Houdini. "I proved my name/ was well chosen," Harry says. His teacher claims, "You can get out of anything/ with that mouth of yours." With a keen eye for detail, Harry (born in 1948) recalls a forgotten era; he describes getting a bowl haircut at Aunt Alice's hands, riding his homemade billy cart down Rookwood Hill without a brake, and the people that populate his world ("They say/ Birdy Newman/ lost his mind/ in the war/ and spends his days/ looking for it/ in Freemans Bush"). Along with humor, sadness also permeates Harry's memories. He misses his mother, who died when Harry was seven, and classmate Linda Mahoney, who drowned in a seasonal flood at age 14 ("She was my friend/ because/ the day after I fought/ Craig Randall/ .../ Linda came to school/ with my favorite orange cake"). Harry wrestles with searching questions, from his desire to move away from Hobsons Bend ("Those that leave this town/ don't come back") to God's existence, in this powerful and moving coming-of-age story. Ages 12-up. (June)
