1961. What a milestone year that would prove to be. Spook was happy before that time, with a creek to play in and Grandpa Doc to spoil him. But then his mum has to drag him down to Melbourne, to a crappy flat above a dress shop, and the dreadful Mrs Green, their landlady. For what? All because of that fuss about his father and a jumping tree? That makes no sense at all.
Soon the sanctimonious Theodore and foul-mouthed Wocker are foisted on Spook as “friends” — and some friends they turn out to be, one-upping him at every opportunity and trying to steal the affections of the lovely Tina across the road. When Spook learns that Tina is in danger, and finally penetrates the fog surrounding his father’s indiscretions, he is determined to prove he is no patsy, and sets out on a course of action that will change two lives forever.
1961 is a poignant, painful and yet often bleakly humorous reminder of that period in our lives when we were silly, vulnerable and desperately serious, all at the same time.
“Dann’s prose skillfully captures Ralph’s sullen perspective, particularly in dialogue… (R)eaders will be charmed by Dann’s now exotic-seeming world of early 1960s Australia and find themselves thoroughly immersed throughout.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“A compelling and believable coming-of-age story and a wonderful portrait of a time and place in Melbourne’s history. The voice is completely convincing and does that thing that is so hard to do, which is to render a child’s point of view in a way that also gets across to the adult reader the nuances that the child isn’t capable of fully understanding.
— Kirsten Tranter, Stella Prize founder, twice longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award (for The Legacy and Hold)
“Wonderful … touching, wry.”
— Miles Franklin Award-winning author Tom Flood (for Oceana Fine)