Since it was first published in 1948, this compassionate first novel has become a favourite with generations of Australian readers. The Harp in the South is a nostalgic and moving portrait of the eventful family ilfe of the Darcys, of Number Twelve-and-a-Half Plymouth Street, in Sydney's Surry Hills

There grow the bitter-sweet first and last loves of Roie Darcy, who becomes a woman too quickly amid the brothels and the razor gangs, the tenements and the fish and chip shops

Ruth Park is a classic storyteller. In this novel she brings to life a community where, despite the odds, life is always exuberant and full of promise