Swords and Crowns and Rings

Ruth Park’s Miles Franklin-winning novel brilliantly evokes Australia in the midst of the Great Depression. Growing up in an Australian country town before World War I, Jackie Hanna and Cushie Moy are carefree and innocent in their love for each other. But Jackie is a dwarf, and his devotion to the beautiful Cushie is condemned by her parents. This is the story of their lifelong odyssey, and of the triumph of a special kind of courage. Written with warmth and affection, Swords and Crowns and Rings is a powerful story about human nature and the strength of an unlikely love. Ruth Park brilliantly captures the mood of Australia in the first part of the twentieth century.