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.

Ruth Park, born in New Zealand in 1917, spent most of her adult life in Australia. She was widely read and well-loved for her books, which were as equally successful for adults as for children. She is best known for the novels The Harp in the South, Poor Man's Orange and Swords and Crowns and Rings, for which she won the 1977 Miles Franklin Award.

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'The ever popular Ruth Park has written one of the best novels of the decade.' Australian

'A fairy tale of a novel.' Sydney Morning Herald

'Almost impossible to put down...its characters keep on living in the imagination.' Sydney Sun