Welcome to Litsy!

In 1944 Emily Dean is dispatched from Melbourne to stay with her father�s relatives in rural Victoria. At the family property of Mount Prospect, Grandmother is determined to keep up standards despite the war, while Emily�s young aunt � the beautiful, fearless Lydia � refuses to befriend her. Feeling lonely and isolated, Emily can�t wait to go home. But things start to improve when she encounters Claudio, the Italian prisoner of war employed as a farm labourer. And become more interesting still when her uncle William returns home wounded. He�s rude, traumatised and mostly drunk, yet a passion for literature soon draws them together. A delightfully wry novel about desire, deceit and self-discovery. �A resonant and engaging story � illuminating and subtly compelling.� � Rosalie Ham �A rich evocation of an era and a beautiful insight into the process of emerging from childhood into womanhood. Such a great read!� � Margaret Pomeranz