After Eoghan (“Yo”) flees the grime and alcoholism of the slums with his seven-year-old sister, Agnes, he encounters Olivia by chance in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Although there’s an instantaneous mutual attraction, their relationship progresses at a realistically sedate pace. They remain separated for long periods, while Olivia attracts new clientele to her and her mother’s couturier business and Eoghan takes a dangerous job catching rivets 300 feet above water during the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The stream-of-consciousness style takes getting used to, for Olivia in particular. Her unfiltered thoughts, full of energy and interjections, follow wherever her mind rambles. The couple’s viewpoints and vocabularies reflect their personalities, though. Both are caring people, and the narrative technique makes their sentiments toward one another feel startlingly real and honest.
The historical setting, presented clearly, plays a significant role. With Britain demanding repayment of Australia’s war debts, unemployment runs high, and there are growing pockets of civil unrest. The “blue mile” of the title refers to the overcrowded waterway dividing the city and the immense distances in faith and class separating Eoghan and Olivia. The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s massive arch, its two halves joining together at last in 1932, becomes a symbol of hope, but both the city and couple undergo significant strain before they can move forward. All of the details on the broader social context enhance the telling of a beautiful love story.
The Blue Mile was published by Macmillan Australia in 2014 (trade pb, A$29.99, 464pp). I had picked it up as a Kindle copy, which is currently for sale at US$9.99. This review first appeared in May's Historical Novels Review and is my third entry for the Australian Women Writers Challenge.
The era for my writing as well, the Depression years were much more than just a lull between world wars. I actually didn't know Australia was affected as well, but there's a kind of energy in the time period that arises from what happened before and the international disaster about to befall everyone in the future.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized how strongly Australia was affected by the Depression either, or what the specific economic circumstances that caused it were. Colleen McCullough's Bittersweet covers this period as well.
DeleteThe Depression was worldwide and badly affected New Zealand as well - that period became known here as the "Sugarbag Years" because women were reduced to making clothing for their families from the sacks sugar and flour came in. There was major poverty and social unrest. Both my husband's grandfathers lost family farms during that time as banks foreclosed on mortgages on a large scale.
ReplyDeleteI recommend Ruth Park's beautifully written autobiography "A Fence Around the Cuckoo" for a look at Depression-era NZ - she and her family lived for a time in the many work camps set up by the Government to provide work for the unemployed on roading and other large-scale projects. Ruth Park later wrote a well-known series known as "The 'Harp in the South Trilogy" about an Irish family living in Sydney's inner-city slums - very similar to the one Eoghan escaped.
Thanks very much for the recommendation of Ruth Park's books. In looking over other descriptions of The Harp in the South, the setting does sound very similar to the slums (and poverty and abuse) in Blue Mile. Sad to say I don't recall the Depression being taught in school as anything other than an American phenomenon.
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