EAKIN, ROBIN — Aunts Up the Cross

Macmillan. 1980. Hardcover with dust jacket, 23cm. Ill.: Dinah Dryhurst. Book, 104pp, under 500g, owner name. Black & white illustrations by Dinah Dryhurst. Growing up in the 1930s in a grand old home in Sydney's bohemian Kings Cross, Robin Dalton experienced a childhood of curiosity and wonder. Raised by a bevy of idiosyncratic aunts and a revolving door of unconventional houseguests, Dalton recalls a time when children had real adventures in a world not easy but perhaps less complicated than today's. With a gentle warmth and wicked wit, Robin Dalton/Eakin brings to life all the colour, glamour and charm of Australian society between the wars. Steeped in nostalgia, Aunts Up the Cross is a delightfully funny memoir of family, childhood and an Australia of yesteryear. Excellent/Excellent.