Chapter 5: Francis

Francis’s way of escaping his mundane childhood is to take the pretence of the crime-busting hero known as ‘the Shadow’; reflecting his inability to comprehend his father’s recent death and the troubles within his family.

Although Francis encounters the same gang that had beaten his brother, fearing repercussions of refusal, he agrees to accompany them on their next mischief and robs an old lady’s home in Hawthorn. Francis justifies his delinquent actions by entering his fantasy world and pretending to be the elusive ‘Shadow’ searching a castle for a ‘stolen microfilm’ (p 165). In keeping the amethyst pendant that he discovered hidden in the old lady’s room, Francis introduces the next symbol that we follow throughout Jordan’s story.

Chapter 5 Quotes

‘I’m nearly thirteen and there’s no one left in the world big enough to carry me under one arm…I shut my eyes and imagine Dad’s legs just there. Like I could touch them if I just reached out my hand.’ (Francis Westaway) p 147

‘The toughest gang in Richmond! And they want me, Francis Westaway.’ (Francis Westaway) p 155

Chapter 6: Annabel

Although the war has ended, the hardship on the home front is far from over and Annabel feels the pinch of rationing and low employment rates more than ever. Upon returning from war, the men return to their jobs and the women, like Annabel are given ‘our [their] marching orders’ and dismissed from a job. As such, Annabel struggles to provide for her alcoholic father and acknowledges that his addiction is getting worse.

Francis and Annabel attend a dance together and continuous examples indicate that despite the cessation of the war, times are still tough for Annabel. Through the eyes of the other girls at the dance, we see that times are tough and Jos passes a remark about Annabel wearing the same frock on multiple occasions. By comparison, Millie or Jos are not tied to their home life as Annabel is and both hold steady jobs and are operating as independent women.

Whilst on the date, she is gifted the amethyst pendant and Francis spins her a story that he received the pendant for a good deed he performed, but when he lashes out at Annabel and insults her father, Kip intervenes and makes amends for his brother’s poor behaviour and gives her the pendant as a gift.

The romance between the pair blossoms and their future is promising.

Chapter 6 Quotes

‘I’ve put so little aside it’s hardly worth hiding. A few coppers to get us through the week. Next week will have to worry about itself. At least it’s November now, heating up fast. I only need enough wood for cooking.’ (Annabel Crouch) p 178

‘This is our private dance, my father’s and mine. We know our steps by heart… soon he will say something about me being alone and what it costs me to care for him.’ (Annabel Crouch) p 179

‘The difference between generous and honourable isn’t something I’ve thought about before, but I look at Kip’s face and see that this is important.’ (Annabel Crouch) p 204

Chapter 7: Jean

The tragedy of this chapter changes the lives of the Westaway family forever and although the focus is on the impact of war on a tightknit community, it also highlights the experiences of women in wartime and how maintaining propriety can come at a great cost.

Jean works hard to keep her son Kip away from the Husting house. Having just received a telegram of their son Jack’s death overseas in Libya, she knows the grief would have overwhelmed them entirely and she reflects back to losing her own husband, Tom. Kip questions the whereabouts of Jack’s death in battle and Jean dismisses it, displaying the dismissive attitude people of the home front often had about the conflict unless they themselves had personally felt the loss. Finding a bereft Connie out in the garden, Jean does her best to comfort her but Connie’s admittance that she is pregnant only boosts Jean’s excitement at the prospect of her daughter marrying the eligible widower Mr Ward, whom she assumes is the father.

Jean is furious when Connie explains Mr Ward, her employer, is not the father and the women start discussing the options of how best to deal with it. Often, a hasty wedding could be a method of disguising the indiscretion but when Connie refuses to tell her mother the name of the man, they consider sending her away to a hostel for unmarried mothers; the secret shifted away for a period but ‘nobody fooled for one moment’ (p 219), the girl’s reputation ruined.

Jean takes it upon herself to handle Connie with tough love and explains to her the ramifications of having a child born out of wedlock; she prides herself on ‘spare[ing] her nothing’ and using all the terminology the neighbourhood will use when they hear of the disgrace. When she feels she has said all she can, one final plea to Connie that the boys, Kip and Francis, will suffer immensely from this is enough to sway her and she puts her trust in her mother to handle the pregnancy discreetly and with haste.

We learn this is not the first time Jean Westaway has used the services of Mrs Ottley, the backstreet abortionist hiding behind a reputable dress shop. Given the illegal nature of her business, Jean assumes Mrs Ottley is a pseudonym and the two share a civil interlude before agreeing on the fee. The risks of such a procedure were great. Doctors and qualified nurses were not involved in such criminal behaviour and operations instead took place in secret where poor infection control could lead to any amount of issues. In addition to this, practitioners were ill-equipped to deal with any haemorrhaging (internal bleeding) and often denied that they had been the cause of it. To Jean, and many other women of the era, it seemed a legitimate risk to take; if Connie birthed the child and raised it unmarried, the social consequences would be dire.

The affection shared between the two of them as Connie is readied on the procedure table is sweet and the unconditional love shared between the mother and young woman is a touching tribute to the devotion of the Westaway family to one another.

Before they manage to get home where Jean hopes Connie can rest and they can move on from the event, Connie bleeds out and without strength enough to lift her, Jean makes a decision to leave her weakened daughter for a moment to get help. Connie dies, alone and in the dark, waiting for her mother to return with help.

Chapter 7 Quotes

‘Mr Husting will be wishing he could have yesterday over and over again, for ever. They’ll be holding that telegram until it crinkles in their hands.’ (Jean Westaway) p 211

‘They have to get a wriggle on. Can’t have her showing. Still, at his age, a widower already, no one expects a long engagement.’ (Jean Westaway) p 216

‘Mothers need to know that butter goes on a burn and spider webs on a cut, clove oil for a toothache, cakes and tea for bereavement. And for things like this, for girls like Connie and saving her future, there’s a respectable woman who runs a business in Victoria Street.’ (Jean Westaway) pp 221-2

‘I’m only going to be gone for a minute. That’s the only reason I leave her.’ (Jean Westaway) p 239

Chapter 8: Alec

This chapter begins with the complaints of Alec, a teenage boy feeling the oppression of his single mother and the constraints her beliefs enforce on him. Amplifying his frustration, Alec holds little respect for his mother and her current situation – ‘Ipso facto, two children, no boyfriend’, and fails to subscribe to her method of mothering, which ironically is not as liberal as we might have assumed from someone such as Charlotte.

We learn in this chapter, that Stanzi and Charlotte have teamed up to co-parent Alec and Libby and manage the modern parental expectations well, by ‘fill[ing] every gap’ and ‘answer[ing] every question’ which only serves to aggravate Alec even more.

Alec’s grandparents Annabel and Kip arrive for an anniversary dinner with their Uncle Frank, and although Alec doesn’t seem to mind his relatives, he continues to consider what other boys his age would be doing tonight.

Being asked to go to the car and fetch Kip’s glasses, Alec finds a present from his grandparents that seem to ease some of his frustration, as it is something he has wanted for a while, a Nintendo DS. Afraid that Charlotte will not permit the gift, Alec tries to hide it but comes across a biscuit tin buried in the backyard and is immediately hooked.

Upon opening the biscuit tin with the family, an old photograph that has been lovingly stashed in there shocks Kip to the point of collapse. Once he recovers, he exposes the truth about what happened to Connie and the unwanted pregnancy. He expresses his eternal gratitude to Alec for ‘given[ing] my [his] sister back’ and explains that he had known about Connie’s pregnancy and that it was the deceased Jack Husting that was the father before anyone else. Connie had confided in him and in a moment of regret he warns Alec about the brevity of life and family. Alec reflects on the affection he feels for his grandfather and when he realises that the photo has been left behind, feels obliged to return it to him.

On the way there, Alec is presented with an opportunity to go on a spontaneous road trip with his friends. They pull up in a car and although Alec is tempted, he refuses and continues to the nursing home to return the photo. He spends some time with Annabel and Kip and upon talking to his grandfather, surmises that ‘he’s ace’ and they reminisce long into the night.

Upon returning home, Charlotte is manic and explains that a huge car accident on the Monash Freeway has claimed the lives of two young boys, Alec’s age. Upon realising that those dead, now being discussed on the news program, are the mates that offered to take him on their road trip, Alec feels numb.

Chapter 8 Quotes

‘Soon I’ll have my learner’s, then in a couple of years, hello freedom. I’ll be off like a shot, just watch me.’ (Alec Westaway) p 243

‘This waiting for my life to start, it’s driving me mental.’ (Alec Westaway) p 244

‘Alec. He’s [Kip] old. What if he dies tonight? What if this was the last time you ever saw him and you had a chance to do something kind for someone who’s done so much for you, and you didn’t take it? How would you live with yourself?’ (Charlotte Westaway) p 264

‘Before long, Grandma goes to bed and I sit up with Grandpa, just talking. He tells me about the old days, about some horse he used to have, about the trouble Uncle Frank got up to when he was my age, but he also asks a lot of questions about school and art. He’s ace, actually. He understands what it’s like for a brother to be outnumbered by women. The whole time he’s talking, he has the photo of Connie in his hands. He never once puts her down.’ (Alec Westaway) pp 272-3

Chapter 9: Connie

In the final chapter, we finally hear from the voiceless character of Connie and the final moments she spends with Jack. After spotting him outside in the dark while the rest of the house is asleep, she meets up with him and she reminds him that he’s being deployed to the war front in the morning. There is a sense of frivolity between them and they make passionate love in the neighbourhood stables.

Connie brings Kip to the train station to see Jack off. A man, who having felt pity for her saying goodbye to her lover, lifts Connie carefully and she and Jack are able to kiss once more. Kip, holding the camera that Connie had taken from the newspaper office, takes the shot and commits the memory.

The chapter ends bitter-sweetly, with Connie content that she’s shared a night with Jack and looking forward to the future. Her untimely death is only a matter of time away.

Chapter 9 Quotes

‘It seems that all my life I’ve had nothing I’ve desired and I’ve given up having no desires at all. Now I know what it feels like to want and I will give anything to have it.’ (Connie Westaway) p 285

‘It’d be some pretty poor kind of love if I didn’t want what was best for you,’ he says. (Jack Husting) pp 287-8

‘And here is the most wonderful thing of all. I have had one night with the man of my heart and, just this once, I have had something that I wanted. Whatever happens, I will keep this night stored away…’ (Connie Westaway) p 293