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Harp in the South #omnibus
The Harp In The South Novels
Covering a span of over thirty years in the life of the Darcy family, these three iconic novels from Ruth Park take us from first love to hardship via outback Australia and the streets of Surry Hills. In "Missus", we read about the adolescence and courtship of Hughie Darcy and the innocent Margaret in the dirt and dust of rural Australia. We next meet the pair in "The Harp in the South", where they run a flea-bitten boarding house in Surry Hills with their two daughters, Roie and Dolour. Making ends meet is hard in the slums of Sydney, and love is not kind to Roie as she takes her first steps into adulthood. Lastly we watch Dolour grow up all too fast in "Poor Man's Orange", as Hughie and Margaret struggle to keep their relationship alive after so many years together. At times confronting, often affectionate, this is a remarkable portrait of an Australian working-class family of the time.
684 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
74 people are currently reading
457 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Park
83 books113 followersRuth Park was a New Zealand-born author, who spent most of her life in Australia. She was born in Auckland, and her family later moved to Te Kuiti further south in the North Island of New Zealand, where they lived in isolated areas.
During the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.
Ruth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.
Her first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).
Park received awards in Australia and internationally.
Winner of the Dromkeen Medal.
During the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.
Ruth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.
Her first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).
Park received awards in Australia and internationally.
Winner of the Dromkeen Medal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
not-for-me
March 14, 2023See instead the separate books of the series:
*****************************
The Harp in the South Trilogy
*Missus TBR
*The Harp in the South TBR
*Poor Man's Orange TBR
*Swords and Crowns and Rings 2 stars
*****************************
The Harp in the South Trilogy
*Missus TBR
*The Harp in the South TBR
*Poor Man's Orange TBR
*Swords and Crowns and Rings 2 stars
October 24, 2017
I loved this beautifully written book, which is an Australian classic. I had already read Poor Man's Orange but the trilogy provides much greater depth and insight into the characters and their sad but hope-filled lives in the slums of Sydney's Surry Hills. The trilogy traces the saga of the Darcy family over thirty or more years. Mumma with her stoic, pious exterior, her drunken husband Hughie, and their daughters Roie (Rowena) and Dolour. The characters are brilliantly drawn, loveable, rough yet tender, funny.
I laughed and cried. Ruth Park writes with a delicate touch. She has compassion and tenderness towards her rough but gutsy characters.
Her writing style is exquisite, abounding in appropriate similes and metaphors. Sentences such as the ones below are everywhere, amid the traumas and triumphs of a family growing up amid squalor.
'Beyond the violet-blue oblong of the window, rimmed with the blowing shadows of the ragged curtains, a flight of white stars slanted across the sky.'
Mumma is interacting with Hughie. 'Mumma's love retreated like a turtle into its shell.'
'Mumma was there in the waiting-room, sunken into a queer shapeless heap like a clay statue that has been out in the rain.'
Although the second and third books of the trilogy are written in the late 1940s, they have the sharp edge of modern literature, softened by the author's love for her characters.
A very good read. www.facebook.com/jeanette.grantthomson
I laughed and cried. Ruth Park writes with a delicate touch. She has compassion and tenderness towards her rough but gutsy characters.
Her writing style is exquisite, abounding in appropriate similes and metaphors. Sentences such as the ones below are everywhere, amid the traumas and triumphs of a family growing up amid squalor.
'Beyond the violet-blue oblong of the window, rimmed with the blowing shadows of the ragged curtains, a flight of white stars slanted across the sky.'
Mumma is interacting with Hughie. 'Mumma's love retreated like a turtle into its shell.'
'Mumma was there in the waiting-room, sunken into a queer shapeless heap like a clay statue that has been out in the rain.'
Although the second and third books of the trilogy are written in the late 1940s, they have the sharp edge of modern literature, softened by the author's love for her characters.
A very good read. www.facebook.com/jeanette.grantthomson
January 30, 2020
I can't go past these great novels for the Classic about a Family category of this year's Back to the Classics. I'm talking specifically about Harp in the South and Poor Man's Orange, which were on my English syllabus at High School. They rescued the subject from being a grind and helped me get full marks for my Year 12 exam. Now whenever anybody mentions Australian classics, they spring instantly to mind. It was well and truly time for a summer re-read.
To me, this is the perfect Aussie version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The Darcy family are among the battlers of Irish descent who live in Sydney's Surry Hills in the 1940's. There is no way of eliminating rats, mould and bed bugs without blowing up the whole suburb, and any attempt is like trying to stop a tidal wave with a band-aid. Yet Ruth Park manages to squeeze every bit of beauty possible out of such a sordid setting.
The dad, Hughie, drinks to drown the suspicion that his life is a futile joke. His wife, Mumma, whose Christian name has long been swept aside, manages to keep her loving heart abreast of her rough old world. There was once a little son named Thady, who disappeared without a trace from the front yard when he was six. The two daughters each try in their own way to reconcile their love of romance and truth with their grim environment, and end up realising that to a large extent, they themselves have to be the sensitivity and goodness they seek.
Roie (short for Rowena) is the eldest, and falls for Tommy Mendel, an exotic looking boy with a lame foot and huge chip on his shoulder, and also Charlie Rothe, a tranquil young man who has taught himself to magnify the good that can be found in life. We're told Roie's heart is full of sweet, timid yearning for security, protection and love.
Dolour, the youngest, finds it easy to latch onto uplifting trivia, and has ambitions to excel at school and study her way to a better life. Circumstances, including some serious eye problems, seem to conspire to keep her pinned in her place. In theory those who work hard can surely create the better life they hope for, but Dolour's story helps us question the legitimate truth of that. She is a strong, upright character who really grapples with the fact that a person's background may always stand in the way of their best intentions.
We readers grow to love the Darcy family, and many others who feature in their lives, because it's obvious that Ruth Park is so fond of them herself. The narrator volunteers to do for these Surry Hills dwellers what they can't do for themselves, because they've been denied education and opportunity. That is, she describes their plight eloquently and empathetically. We're told that Roie and Tommy, in their young attraction, 'wanted to say words that were not crude and banal but their imaginations fell flat, unsupported by education and intuition.'
Then later, Hughie lets forth a torrent of self righteous abuse to a man he believes deserves it, but his limited mode of expression does him no favours. The narrator says, 'he didn't have a particularly obscene mind, but the words he used needed adjectival qualifications, so he filled the expressions he knew into the vacant places.' There are many examples of the narrator using her own skill to give the characters a boost, because they simply had no means to.
The bridge between their scruffy, sorry existences and a nobler reality is often provided by those characters who represent their precious Catholic faith. Father Cooley and Sisters Theophilus and Beatrix probably consider themselves hard-working clergy, pouring out their lives as an offering in a rough and thankless neighbourhood. Yet perhaps they never truly realise all their presence means to people like Mrs Darcy and her daughters.
They embody the dignity and beauty of a spiritual world that might be dismissed as mere legend but for their presence. Even though no thanks may be forthcoming, the higher vantage point we get as readers indicates that their sacrifice doesn't fall on barren ground, but is soaked up by people it means the whole world to, giving them a reason to plug on with their own tough lives day after day.
I love these books, notwithstanding some plot jolts we don't foresee which are like kicks in the guts. But romance and loyalty makes us cheer all the louder when they arrive, because they seem that more heroic in such a setting. During a trip to Sydney in recent years, I made sure we drove through Surry Hills especially because of the Darcy family. In the 21st century, it's now the place to be, full of suave, hipster real-estate, and none of those slums. I'd love to see what Hughie, Mumma, Charlie and the girls would make of it.
To me, this is the perfect Aussie version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The Darcy family are among the battlers of Irish descent who live in Sydney's Surry Hills in the 1940's. There is no way of eliminating rats, mould and bed bugs without blowing up the whole suburb, and any attempt is like trying to stop a tidal wave with a band-aid. Yet Ruth Park manages to squeeze every bit of beauty possible out of such a sordid setting.
The dad, Hughie, drinks to drown the suspicion that his life is a futile joke. His wife, Mumma, whose Christian name has long been swept aside, manages to keep her loving heart abreast of her rough old world. There was once a little son named Thady, who disappeared without a trace from the front yard when he was six. The two daughters each try in their own way to reconcile their love of romance and truth with their grim environment, and end up realising that to a large extent, they themselves have to be the sensitivity and goodness they seek.
Roie (short for Rowena) is the eldest, and falls for Tommy Mendel, an exotic looking boy with a lame foot and huge chip on his shoulder, and also Charlie Rothe, a tranquil young man who has taught himself to magnify the good that can be found in life. We're told Roie's heart is full of sweet, timid yearning for security, protection and love.
Dolour, the youngest, finds it easy to latch onto uplifting trivia, and has ambitions to excel at school and study her way to a better life. Circumstances, including some serious eye problems, seem to conspire to keep her pinned in her place. In theory those who work hard can surely create the better life they hope for, but Dolour's story helps us question the legitimate truth of that. She is a strong, upright character who really grapples with the fact that a person's background may always stand in the way of their best intentions.
We readers grow to love the Darcy family, and many others who feature in their lives, because it's obvious that Ruth Park is so fond of them herself. The narrator volunteers to do for these Surry Hills dwellers what they can't do for themselves, because they've been denied education and opportunity. That is, she describes their plight eloquently and empathetically. We're told that Roie and Tommy, in their young attraction, 'wanted to say words that were not crude and banal but their imaginations fell flat, unsupported by education and intuition.'
Then later, Hughie lets forth a torrent of self righteous abuse to a man he believes deserves it, but his limited mode of expression does him no favours. The narrator says, 'he didn't have a particularly obscene mind, but the words he used needed adjectival qualifications, so he filled the expressions he knew into the vacant places.' There are many examples of the narrator using her own skill to give the characters a boost, because they simply had no means to.
The bridge between their scruffy, sorry existences and a nobler reality is often provided by those characters who represent their precious Catholic faith. Father Cooley and Sisters Theophilus and Beatrix probably consider themselves hard-working clergy, pouring out their lives as an offering in a rough and thankless neighbourhood. Yet perhaps they never truly realise all their presence means to people like Mrs Darcy and her daughters.
They embody the dignity and beauty of a spiritual world that might be dismissed as mere legend but for their presence. Even though no thanks may be forthcoming, the higher vantage point we get as readers indicates that their sacrifice doesn't fall on barren ground, but is soaked up by people it means the whole world to, giving them a reason to plug on with their own tough lives day after day.
I love these books, notwithstanding some plot jolts we don't foresee which are like kicks in the guts. But romance and loyalty makes us cheer all the louder when they arrive, because they seem that more heroic in such a setting. During a trip to Sydney in recent years, I made sure we drove through Surry Hills especially because of the Darcy family. In the 21st century, it's now the place to be, full of suave, hipster real-estate, and none of those slums. I'd love to see what Hughie, Mumma, Charlie and the girls would make of it.
August 18, 2013
I read this on the Kindle and thought I was reading The Harp in The South. At the end I realised that I had read the trilogy! Missus, The Harp in the South & Poor Man's Orange were published in 1985, 1948 & 1949. A fascinating story following Hugh Darcy and Margaret Kilker from a country town to living in the slums of Surrey Hills.
February 14, 2016
Why did I wait so long to read this?!
Just like the time I finished Cloudstreet, I'm really sad to have to say goodbye to the Darcys. I don't want to go to bed and read about any other family.
It was funny, tragic, uplifting and filled with so much guts and glory. I adored both Roie and Dolour so much! I was left heart broken come Poor Man's Orange.
There are so many unforgettable moments and characters that I completely understand why this is an Australian Classic. I recommend reading the entire trilogy in one go, I don't think you could have the same experience only reading The Harp in the South.
*pops it on the favourites shelf*
Just like the time I finished Cloudstreet, I'm really sad to have to say goodbye to the Darcys. I don't want to go to bed and read about any other family.
It was funny, tragic, uplifting and filled with so much guts and glory. I adored both Roie and Dolour so much! I was left heart broken come Poor Man's Orange.
There are so many unforgettable moments and characters that I completely understand why this is an Australian Classic. I recommend reading the entire trilogy in one go, I don't think you could have the same experience only reading The Harp in the South.
*pops it on the favourites shelf*
January 28, 2024
What wonderful writing. It's no wonder that Park's books are considered Australian classics. I chose to read this collection of 3 books which follows the Kilker/Darcy family saga in the early 19th century. She writes with such depth of understanding and graphic description of lives lived in poverty. Through which shines the indomitable spirit of love, hope and faith. It was a lot to read successively but so worth it.
May 30, 2015
Life in a Sydney slum
This is a trilogy set in Australia (starting in the 1920s) about the lives of the Darcies, descendants of Catholic Irish immigrants who started out in a small country town in NSW and ended up in Sydney, in the run-down inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, trying to hang on to their dignity in the midst of squalor, violence and poverty. Ruth Park has Joseph Mendel, a Jewish pawn-shop owner, say that „most Sydney people persist, somewhat biasedly, perhaps, in thinking of Surry Hills in terms of brothels, razor-gangs, tenements, and fried fish shops.“ On the other hand „for every sin in Surry Hills there are a thousand heart-warming words and deeds“, there are acts of kindness, unselfishness, solidarity, tolerance, neighbourliness and surprisingly there is a fierce attachment to the place among many of the older residents.
The first part oft he trilogy („Missus“) was actually written nearly 40 years after the second („Harp in the South“) and the third („Poor Man’s Orange“) and I wonder why the author felt compelled to write it. There are discrepancies in fact and style and the two earlier books were already complete in themselves.
Those two books read a bit like one of those TV soap operas set in working-class neighbourhoods, as all the stereotypes are present : the ineffectual, defeated husband who drinks his wages away in the pub, the battling matriarch with a heart of gold and unshakable faith who keeps the family together, the gentle, naive, romantic older daughter who is seduced by a selfish, shallow young man but then finds true love, the plain, gifted younger daughter who has to bury her dreams of a better future, hilarious, tough, outspoken Grandma, etc., etc.
However, Ruth Park treats her characters with so much affection, empathy and benevolent humour that despite the well-worn clichés one can’t help being drawn into the lives of the Darcies , getting to know them intimately and sharing their sorrows and tragedies as well as their brief periods of happiness. Things get a bit repetitive at times, the ending comes as no surprise . Still, all in all it is a very moving, sad, funny and satisfying read.
This is a trilogy set in Australia (starting in the 1920s) about the lives of the Darcies, descendants of Catholic Irish immigrants who started out in a small country town in NSW and ended up in Sydney, in the run-down inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, trying to hang on to their dignity in the midst of squalor, violence and poverty. Ruth Park has Joseph Mendel, a Jewish pawn-shop owner, say that „most Sydney people persist, somewhat biasedly, perhaps, in thinking of Surry Hills in terms of brothels, razor-gangs, tenements, and fried fish shops.“ On the other hand „for every sin in Surry Hills there are a thousand heart-warming words and deeds“, there are acts of kindness, unselfishness, solidarity, tolerance, neighbourliness and surprisingly there is a fierce attachment to the place among many of the older residents.
The first part oft he trilogy („Missus“) was actually written nearly 40 years after the second („Harp in the South“) and the third („Poor Man’s Orange“) and I wonder why the author felt compelled to write it. There are discrepancies in fact and style and the two earlier books were already complete in themselves.
Those two books read a bit like one of those TV soap operas set in working-class neighbourhoods, as all the stereotypes are present : the ineffectual, defeated husband who drinks his wages away in the pub, the battling matriarch with a heart of gold and unshakable faith who keeps the family together, the gentle, naive, romantic older daughter who is seduced by a selfish, shallow young man but then finds true love, the plain, gifted younger daughter who has to bury her dreams of a better future, hilarious, tough, outspoken Grandma, etc., etc.
However, Ruth Park treats her characters with so much affection, empathy and benevolent humour that despite the well-worn clichés one can’t help being drawn into the lives of the Darcies , getting to know them intimately and sharing their sorrows and tragedies as well as their brief periods of happiness. Things get a bit repetitive at times, the ending comes as no surprise . Still, all in all it is a very moving, sad, funny and satisfying read.
June 3, 2021
Like many reviewers I bought this, thinking it was a single novel, but eventually realising that I'd signed up for a hefty trilogy. Nevertheless I'm so satisfied at having read it all, and savouring so much of this rich series of historical novels that I can say with sincerity that I was sorry to see it end - a feeling we all get when we read a truly great story, filled with a wonderful sense of time, place and people.
The underlying theme of dignity and grace in the face of squalid adversity is a well known refrain in Australian literature and in significant other works emanating from many other nations (Ireland, America, Mexico, India all come to mind immediately), but the characters are described with such great depth and authenticity that this really is a story that shines, and I found myself heavily invested in the fortunes not only of the Darcy family but of many of the peripheral characters, flawed and all as they may be.
In addition there are many themes that are sadly just as relevant in contemporary society: Interference by the institutions of the church, racial discrimination, abuse and violence toward women and children, how the less fortunate become stigmatised etc...but I can't recommend this trilogy enough: the language is beautiful, and the third novel in the series saves the very best for last, when it would be easy for the story to flag.
Dolour in particular will stay with me.
The underlying theme of dignity and grace in the face of squalid adversity is a well known refrain in Australian literature and in significant other works emanating from many other nations (Ireland, America, Mexico, India all come to mind immediately), but the characters are described with such great depth and authenticity that this really is a story that shines, and I found myself heavily invested in the fortunes not only of the Darcy family but of many of the peripheral characters, flawed and all as they may be.
In addition there are many themes that are sadly just as relevant in contemporary society: Interference by the institutions of the church, racial discrimination, abuse and violence toward women and children, how the less fortunate become stigmatised etc...but I can't recommend this trilogy enough: the language is beautiful, and the third novel in the series saves the very best for last, when it would be easy for the story to flag.
Dolour in particular will stay with me.
May 9, 2018
The back of this edition calls Ruth Park “the heart of Australian literature” and refers to this trilogy as her “best loved books”. It describes the book as a family saga with “convincing depth, careful detail and great heart”.
The first page of Missus establishing it's small town setting with the following passage…
Trafalgar was first settled by a veteran of that battle. He used his prize money to go out to New South Wales with a cargo of sheep and horses. He applied for a grant on the well-watered tablelands and was assigned thirty convicts as slave labourers… The natives were trouble at first, believing the sheep to belong to everyone, and much more easily speared than kangaroos. But the master of Trafalgar made short work of them, by inviting them to hang around waiting for white man’s tidbits, and then feeding them flour cakes primed with strychnine. The survivors did not connect the deaths to the white men; they believed the water had gone bad, as it sometimes did after a dry season. One old woman tried to warn the white people not to drink it, but they did not understand. She went away with the two or three others and that was the end of them.
Needless to say, this opening paints an unsettlingly accurate description of Australia’s beginnings and was not what I was expecting considering the description. However (in true Australian fashion) the book instantly moves past this as if it never happened . Missus is filled with backstory and descriptions and as a result the whole book feels like it’s working up to something big but never really seems to make it there. Every time a new character is introduced Park goes into a long description of their entire backstory; this gives the book a very drawn out feel. While all this extra information helps paint a good picture as to what it was like to immigrate to Australia and start a family in a small town much of these characters hold little influence over the narrative path of the story and so it all seems very superfluous. In fact, many of the characters that play an important role in Missus are never to be seen again in the other two books even though there were some good opportunities to bring them back. Furthermore, at one point in Poor Man’s Orange Hughie briefly reminisces over his childhood with his “brothers” even though in Missus it was established that he only had one. Missus was the weakest of the three books and if you aren’t the type of person who needs the whole story there is no harm in giving it a miss.
To switch back to the subject of unsettling moments, there were a few points in the later two books that give voice to some nasty ideas or had me considering some questionable morals. One of those moments is the racism displayed by our two main characters Hughie and Mumma. When discussing their daughters mixed-raced boyfriend Mumma says, “’it’s because there’s nigger in him, Hughie. I’m scared of it, and no mistake.’ Hughie said defiantly: ‘It’s better than Chink. It’s real Australian and no matter how bad it is, there’s non better’”. These two characters are the heads of the family and the ones that we are presumably supposed to sympathize with despite their flaws. While acknowledging that they are a product of a different time and place in which these slurs were frequently tossed around, I still found it hard to push past their flaws (especially Hughie’s) and enjoy the supposedly heartwarming family narrative.
I was also very confused as to what I should make of Roie’s story arch, does she get condemned for her past actions? Spoiler alert and trigger warning: These moral conundrums hindered my ability to enjoy the story and admire the characters, even though they were in many ways a product of their time and their surroundings.
Reading these reviews many people seem to love the Darcy family but I found the characters fit into well-worn shells that you can find throughout other books. Yes, they have to push through difficult times and they always help each other out and they endeavour to be righteous despite the immoral activity of the slums but they still hold prejudices and succumb to their vices. I think the book begs the question: what is morally right and wrong and why do bad things happen to good people and vice versa? Do Delie Stock’s charitable ventures make her a good person even though she made her fortune from bootlegging and running a brothel? Nothing is ever cut and dry in real life and so I appreciate how this book does the same and raises this big questions but I am still confused as to what Ruth Park was specifically trying to communicate at certain times in the story. I am sorry if this review is confusing and disjointed but so are my thoughts about this series. Perhaps I would feel more attached to the story if I was Australian? Who knows?
All in all, I did not have a terribly unenjoyable time reading this book but I am not sad to leave it behind. If you want to read these books go ahead but they are not making my recommended list. If you are on the fence, I’d recommend just starting with The Harp in the South and skipping Missus.
My rating for each individual book are as follows:
Missus - 1 star
Harp in the South - 2.5 stars
Poor Mans Orange - 2 stars
The first page of Missus establishing it's small town setting with the following passage…
Trafalgar was first settled by a veteran of that battle. He used his prize money to go out to New South Wales with a cargo of sheep and horses. He applied for a grant on the well-watered tablelands and was assigned thirty convicts as slave labourers… The natives were trouble at first, believing the sheep to belong to everyone, and much more easily speared than kangaroos. But the master of Trafalgar made short work of them, by inviting them to hang around waiting for white man’s tidbits, and then feeding them flour cakes primed with strychnine. The survivors did not connect the deaths to the white men; they believed the water had gone bad, as it sometimes did after a dry season. One old woman tried to warn the white people not to drink it, but they did not understand. She went away with the two or three others and that was the end of them.
Needless to say, this opening paints an unsettlingly accurate description of Australia’s beginnings and was not what I was expecting considering the description. However (in true Australian fashion) the book instantly moves past this as if it never happened . Missus is filled with backstory and descriptions and as a result the whole book feels like it’s working up to something big but never really seems to make it there. Every time a new character is introduced Park goes into a long description of their entire backstory; this gives the book a very drawn out feel. While all this extra information helps paint a good picture as to what it was like to immigrate to Australia and start a family in a small town much of these characters hold little influence over the narrative path of the story and so it all seems very superfluous. In fact, many of the characters that play an important role in Missus are never to be seen again in the other two books even though there were some good opportunities to bring them back. Furthermore, at one point in Poor Man’s Orange Hughie briefly reminisces over his childhood with his “brothers” even though in Missus it was established that he only had one. Missus was the weakest of the three books and if you aren’t the type of person who needs the whole story there is no harm in giving it a miss.
To switch back to the subject of unsettling moments, there were a few points in the later two books that give voice to some nasty ideas or had me considering some questionable morals. One of those moments is the racism displayed by our two main characters Hughie and Mumma. When discussing their daughters mixed-raced boyfriend Mumma says, “’it’s because there’s nigger in him, Hughie. I’m scared of it, and no mistake.’ Hughie said defiantly: ‘It’s better than Chink. It’s real Australian and no matter how bad it is, there’s non better’”. These two characters are the heads of the family and the ones that we are presumably supposed to sympathize with despite their flaws. While acknowledging that they are a product of a different time and place in which these slurs were frequently tossed around, I still found it hard to push past their flaws (especially Hughie’s) and enjoy the supposedly heartwarming family narrative.
I was also very confused as to what I should make of Roie’s story arch, does she get condemned for her past actions? Spoiler alert and trigger warning: These moral conundrums hindered my ability to enjoy the story and admire the characters, even though they were in many ways a product of their time and their surroundings.
Reading these reviews many people seem to love the Darcy family but I found the characters fit into well-worn shells that you can find throughout other books. Yes, they have to push through difficult times and they always help each other out and they endeavour to be righteous despite the immoral activity of the slums but they still hold prejudices and succumb to their vices. I think the book begs the question: what is morally right and wrong and why do bad things happen to good people and vice versa? Do Delie Stock’s charitable ventures make her a good person even though she made her fortune from bootlegging and running a brothel? Nothing is ever cut and dry in real life and so I appreciate how this book does the same and raises this big questions but I am still confused as to what Ruth Park was specifically trying to communicate at certain times in the story. I am sorry if this review is confusing and disjointed but so are my thoughts about this series. Perhaps I would feel more attached to the story if I was Australian? Who knows?
All in all, I did not have a terribly unenjoyable time reading this book but I am not sad to leave it behind. If you want to read these books go ahead but they are not making my recommended list. If you are on the fence, I’d recommend just starting with The Harp in the South and skipping Missus.
My rating for each individual book are as follows:
Missus - 1 star
Harp in the South - 2.5 stars
Poor Mans Orange - 2 stars
January 31, 2020
So this is of course three novels but I recommend reading it in this single volume edition. Just book yourself a long weekend on the couch and immerse yourself totally in the life and struggles of the Darcy family through the years.
Missus was actually the last book of the three written but is the first in the chronology of the story. It tells of the early years roaming around bush towns, working and struggling and eventually falling in love.
Harp in the South is next and tells the heart rending story of the Darcy family living in what was then the slums of Surrey Hills. This novel caused a little fuss when it was published because at that time Australia didn't have slums, at least not according to the Australian government. Writers bursting our national bullshit, long may it continue.
Poor Man's Orange finishes up the trilogy and I defy anyone to remain unmoved by it at the very end.
This trilogy is a national treasure. What War and Peace is to Russia, what Madame Bovary is to France, what Grapes of Wrath is to America, this trilogy is to Australia and more.
Read it now.
Missus was actually the last book of the three written but is the first in the chronology of the story. It tells of the early years roaming around bush towns, working and struggling and eventually falling in love.
Harp in the South is next and tells the heart rending story of the Darcy family living in what was then the slums of Surrey Hills. This novel caused a little fuss when it was published because at that time Australia didn't have slums, at least not according to the Australian government. Writers bursting our national bullshit, long may it continue.
Poor Man's Orange finishes up the trilogy and I defy anyone to remain unmoved by it at the very end.
This trilogy is a national treasure. What War and Peace is to Russia, what Madame Bovary is to France, what Grapes of Wrath is to America, this trilogy is to Australia and more.
Read it now.
March 24, 2016
These are three novels combined into the one book tracing the lives of Hugh Darcy and his wife Margaret from country town to the slums of Sydney in the period between the world wars.
Great characters are the basis of the story as the Darcy family live out their lives in poverty, wasted opportunities, frustrated dreams, shame and sadness.
I liked the second novel the best while all three stand alone. A great story of the poor Irish in Australia during the first part of the 20th century.
Great characters are the basis of the story as the Darcy family live out their lives in poverty, wasted opportunities, frustrated dreams, shame and sadness.
I liked the second novel the best while all three stand alone. A great story of the poor Irish in Australia during the first part of the 20th century.
September 11, 2011
Ah, this is such a wonderful trilogy.
Ruth Park died last year, but here she is, speaking to me, teaching me about life.
Ruth Park died last year, but here she is, speaking to me, teaching me about life.
October 10, 2011
I found this book, very interesting. Especially in the light that I was watching Underbelly; Razor at the same time. If you love Australia and her history, read it and take your time!
January 24, 2013
Very moving. Paints a very realistic portrait of poverty. Beautiful writing.
August 25, 2022
Like most readers, I wasn't very impressed with the first book of the trilogy "Missus", and it doesn't fit with the second and third in style or content. By content I mean the treatment of the characters. In the first book they are treated seriously and examined minutely and in the second Hughie has changed so much for the worse that it's difficult to find the person he was. The same with the young woman who has changed dramatically into "Missus".
In "The Harp in the South" and "Poor Man's Orange" the focus is on their daughters and their chances of escaping the Sydney slums they live in. We feel for them as Ruth Park takes us to the most intimate details of their experience.
Ruth Park never lets up with her descriptions of the living conditions which are dirty, because there are factories nearby and smoke belches out ceaselessly so there is not much point in cleaning. The personal washing conditions are difficult too. She describes the effect of bed bugs, the constant presence of cockroaches and most horrible of all, rats. And as the story goes on you feel how wrong it is that any people have to live this way. She describes the price of rental property going up and up until the aged have nowhere to live but flophouses which are no better than tents. Food is cheap enough and plentiful, so the people survive and at least Sydney is not very cold in winter. She describes endless pungent smells.
Warning: the language used to describe people of ethnicities other than Irish is very racist and there is no getting away from the fact that people used to say abusive things about native Australians, Jews and Chinese. (It isn't as though the other nations never said the Irish were dirty, drunken, and lazy.)
I think this book is intended to be an eye-opener. Ruth Park doesn't pull her punches about what Hughie resorts to to get out of his mind, how the baby's clothes are black from the street, and the nappy smells, what the young people do for entertainment, and how it all seems to Dolour who is strong and disapproving due to the influence of Catholic teaching about the significance to God of all we do and the wonderful Sister Theophilus.
Although Dolour missed out on her exams due to the sheer bad luck of getting infections in her eyes (the family is either not given medical care or it is always botched), one feels that there is always hope that she will find happiness and fulfillment. Ruth Park has quite a repetitive style in that she warns you about the beginnings of people's feelings and then revisits them repeatedly to tell you they are growing.
I really want to give this 5 stars because giving us a good read about these circumstances is such an amazing achievement but I can't because it leaves such a bitter taste - the taste of the poor man's orange.
In "The Harp in the South" and "Poor Man's Orange" the focus is on their daughters and their chances of escaping the Sydney slums they live in. We feel for them as Ruth Park takes us to the most intimate details of their experience.
Ruth Park never lets up with her descriptions of the living conditions which are dirty, because there are factories nearby and smoke belches out ceaselessly so there is not much point in cleaning. The personal washing conditions are difficult too. She describes the effect of bed bugs, the constant presence of cockroaches and most horrible of all, rats. And as the story goes on you feel how wrong it is that any people have to live this way. She describes the price of rental property going up and up until the aged have nowhere to live but flophouses which are no better than tents. Food is cheap enough and plentiful, so the people survive and at least Sydney is not very cold in winter. She describes endless pungent smells.
Warning: the language used to describe people of ethnicities other than Irish is very racist and there is no getting away from the fact that people used to say abusive things about native Australians, Jews and Chinese. (It isn't as though the other nations never said the Irish were dirty, drunken, and lazy.)
I think this book is intended to be an eye-opener. Ruth Park doesn't pull her punches about what Hughie resorts to to get out of his mind, how the baby's clothes are black from the street, and the nappy smells, what the young people do for entertainment, and how it all seems to Dolour who is strong and disapproving due to the influence of Catholic teaching about the significance to God of all we do and the wonderful Sister Theophilus.
Although Dolour missed out on her exams due to the sheer bad luck of getting infections in her eyes (the family is either not given medical care or it is always botched), one feels that there is always hope that she will find happiness and fulfillment. Ruth Park has quite a repetitive style in that she warns you about the beginnings of people's feelings and then revisits them repeatedly to tell you they are growing.
I really want to give this 5 stars because giving us a good read about these circumstances is such an amazing achievement but I can't because it leaves such a bitter taste - the taste of the poor man's orange.
August 7, 2019
I really liked the writing: Ruth Park's descriptive style is exquisite, but I just couldn't get over the unremitting tragedy of it all - endless misery. Almost didn't make it to the end.
June 20, 2020
A great family
Ruth Park takes you on a journey of a family. I was caught up in the family saga and cried but also laughed out loud.
It was a joy to read. I loved it.
Ruth Park takes you on a journey of a family. I was caught up in the family saga and cried but also laughed out loud.
It was a joy to read. I loved it.
March 28, 2021
Beautifully drawn characters with flaws and depth. The writing is wonderful. Poignant, sad, joyful and hopeful, all at once. Slight continuity issues between Missus and the other two books.
December 16, 2024
I must have originally read these about 40 years ago. Of course they have dated but read in context they are still brilliant.
June 14, 2021
Part one ... Missus finished
Part two … The harp in the South finished
Beautifully written
Part two … The harp in the South finished
Beautifully written
February 20, 2021
Four stars. Can't seem to fix this. Actually reviewing third part...Poor Man's Orange. Such sadness. What a miserable way to live. What conditions. Hope at the end.
November 22, 2013
The Harp in the South is an Australian classic written by Ruth Park. This book follows the lives of the Darcy Family, who live in a run down flat in Surry Hills. Filled with unforgettable characters such Mumma, Hughie, Dolour and Roie, this is a story which really depicts a true description of life in an inner city suburb of working class and poverty stricken families. This is honest tale of life ... without the fancy cars and the impossible romance. A tale of family, true love, growing up, loss and laughter. This edition also contains the prequel and sequel, Missus and Poor Man's Orange. The language is quite old fashioned, and the story moves along very slowly, but this is why I love it so much. There is no fiction in this book - apart from the fact that it was mostly made up... if that makes any sense! A must read for those interested in Classic drama and stories based on the bumps of life.
March 2, 2013
These are books I would have liked to meet years ago. Maybe not great, but they capture an Australian voice and experience so very well. And perhaps the experience of poverty in many places.
As a trilogy there is a little clumsiness as the first book contains details which are contradicted in the later two. I am guessing writen later to give background to characters she liked. And the move from country town to Sydney life shows as a sad loss.
So maybe one of the themes of these is how much better it is for Australians to be freer, or happier, away from the constrictions of the city.
I am surprised these were not required reading during high school. To me they could be sid to be part of a collection that help us see ourselves as a nation. And, as so often, it is a New Zealander who does this for us.
Glad to have found them even so late.
As a trilogy there is a little clumsiness as the first book contains details which are contradicted in the later two. I am guessing writen later to give background to characters she liked. And the move from country town to Sydney life shows as a sad loss.
So maybe one of the themes of these is how much better it is for Australians to be freer, or happier, away from the constrictions of the city.
I am surprised these were not required reading during high school. To me they could be sid to be part of a collection that help us see ourselves as a nation. And, as so often, it is a New Zealander who does this for us.
Glad to have found them even so late.
September 8, 2013
I have heard this described as a 'quiet novel' and I think that is the perfect description. There are no explosions, it's not a fast-paced thriller, it chronicles the lives of an ordinary Australian family, perhaps only extraordinary in their poverty - although at the time, their kind of poverty was not so unusual.
This book is filled with so much life and heart - even the hopeless characters, like 'head of the family' Hughie, who drinks away their rent money repeatedly, find their way into your heart. Ruth Park's writing is so beautiful - her descriptions of life in Surrey Hills are vivid and her characters are beautifully-drawn.
I read all three of the novels in a row, and I still wanted more of the Darcy family.
This book is filled with so much life and heart - even the hopeless characters, like 'head of the family' Hughie, who drinks away their rent money repeatedly, find their way into your heart. Ruth Park's writing is so beautiful - her descriptions of life in Surrey Hills are vivid and her characters are beautifully-drawn.
I read all three of the novels in a row, and I still wanted more of the Darcy family.
February 10, 2010
Beautifully written. The characters come to life by Ruth's writing. Hughie and Mumma Darcy reminds me a lot of Homer and Marge. It's a good book about everything, but nothing. It paints a clear picture of what life was like as a Catholic Irish Australian family living in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, which was an inner city slum.
The novel contains a lot of "light-hearted" racism in the book. Unsure whether it was just a norm of that time or perhaps the author is trying to convey an important, didactic message to the reader in regards to prejudice towards minorities. Hard to say!
The novel contains a lot of "light-hearted" racism in the book. Unsure whether it was just a norm of that time or perhaps the author is trying to convey an important, didactic message to the reader in regards to prejudice towards minorities. Hard to say!
April 25, 2013
Ruth Park has created truly memorable and lovable characters in this trilogy. The first novel was a little hard going, but Ruth made up for it in the second and third novels with a writing style that was far superior to that in the first novel. I loved this trilogy and it is top of my list of favourites (for now at least).
January 29, 2014
This is an Aussie classic that I should have read years ago. I don't know how it slipped through. It took me a while to warm to the characters, but I finished up cheering for them and crying for them. There is great nobility in the struggles of the poor.
July 12, 2013
What a wonderful story teller is Ruth Park. I loved the characters, the story and her descriptive style of writing. I struggled to put this book down.
December 6, 2015
Still have to read 'Poor Man's Orange', but you can live and breath Sydney in these books
January 29, 2013
Liked being able to read the trilogy and to read Missus, the story of Mumma and Hughie befote they married for the first time.
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