Somewhere around the Corner
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
Just shut your eyes and picture yourself walking around the corner. that's what my friend told me. Somewhere around the corner and you'll be safe. the demonstration was wild, out of control. Barbara was scared. She saw the policeman running towards her. She needed to escape. She closed her eyes and did precisely that: she walked somewhere around the corner - to another demonstration - to another time. Barbara was lucky she meet young Jim who took her out of this strange, frightening city to his home. It was 1932, when Australia was in the grip of the depression, and Jim lived in a shantytown. But Barbara found a true friend and a true home - somewhere safe around the corner. Ages 12+
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Just when her world seems darkest, Barbara, a runaway in contemporary Australia, is ``pulled around the corner'' backward in time. Awakening in the year 1932, the confused girl meets a kindly boy named Jim, who brings her home to ``Poverty Gully,'' a relief camp for the unemployed. While Jim's parents view their strange visitor as neglected and delusional, they are quick to accept Barbara as one of the family. Their run-down shack has no floor nor beds, but there Barbara finds the love and compassion denied her in her ``other world.'' Told from several points of view, French's tender story portrays the Great Depression as the best and the worst of times. The Australian author deftly parallels the hardships of that era with the modern-day conflicts that have pushed Barbara to the streets. Persuasively expressing its characters' dreams and concerns while offering a series of surprising twists, this intriguing adventure conveys a faith in many levels of miracles. Ages 9-12.
