Ghost River

by Tony Birch

The highly anticipated new novel from the Miles Franklin-shortlisted author of Blood ‘You find yourself down at the bottom of the river, for some it’s time to give into her. But other times, young fellas like you two, you got to fight your way back. Show the river you got courage and is ready to live.’ The river is a place of history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends, it’s a place of freedom and adventure. For a group of storytelling vagrants, it’s a refuge. And for the isolated daughter of a cult reverend, it’s an escape. Each time they visit, another secret slips into its ancient waters. But change and trouble are coming – to the river and to the lives of those who love it. Who will have the courage to fight and survive and what will be the cost?

Genres: Australia, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Indigenous, Book Club, Historical Fiction, 21st Century

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Tony Birch is the author of Ghost River, which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. He is also the author of Shadowboxing and three short story collections, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award. Tony is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio and a regular guest at writers’ festivals. He lives in Melbourne and is a Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University.

Reviews

[Michael Livingston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony Birch is a goddamn treasure. He writes about a lost Melbourne - the working class inner suburbs of the 1960s and 70s - like nobody else. This feels like one of the shorts in Shadowboxing stretched out into a novel, and it zips by pretty quickly. The two young central characters are charming and feel real, and the claustrophobic neighbourhood is beautifully drawn. Ren is obsessed with photographing birds, which endeared him to me immediately and allowed Birch to draw out the partly lost beauty of the inner-city Yarra.

One jarring moment that annoyed me though was the brief section about the bats coming into roost at dusk - anyone who lives near the river will know that they come flooding out of their roosts as the sun goes down to spend the night feeding in all the fruit trees of the city. A tiny mistake, but one that pulled me right out of the narrative for a moment.

[Nick Grammos · Rating 3 out of 5]

At certain points as I read this novel, I kept coming across characteristics of people and places I recalled as a child. That sense of what the city of Melbourne was like was all too familiar. Though our experiences are different, the place, the character of people, their values were all so vividly real. The sensation too of being young and separate from adults was captured well in this book. The treatment of outsiders like the river men, warm and engaging, looks from 2020, like a vanished part of the local character. We've become unlike the people we were in Australia. Connection to people, not just our family seemed stronger, more open. Perhaps it was, or was in the location of the novel. still, I'm left with that haunting sensation that something was lost, not childhood innocence, but something we miss, but can't seem to locate. It's bonds and relationships to landscape and place, really. We who are now so wonderfully international and chic, so committed to the perpetual elsewhere we can hide behind, that digitised non real we want so desperately to be real and we hide behind it so we dont have to face anything else. Yes, I had the sensation as I read this that the tangible, the real is something we can turn our back on, allow it to vanish. That is the river, turned into a freeway, bulldozed, like who we once were. Loyalty, believing in justice when all around is corrupt, these are valuable, like the places we treasure because we call them ours. Who can call a river 'ours' now? We can't seem to protect anything from harm. Though the river is trashed, contaminated, a danger, the boys, Sonny and Ren form an intimacy with it. Harm is something different, they can't see it until there's a plan to destroy it. That harms them. Not the contaminants, the 'film' that covers the skin after swimming in it. Imagine if we could save a river from a freeway today? Could we, would we? Did progress improve us, or harm us?

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony Birch is an inspired author and once again with this moving story of the friendship between two young boys, Sonny and Ren, he doesn't disappoint. Set in Melbourne sometime in the late 60's, it will resonate with many who are familiar with inner Melbourne. The backdrop to the story is the Yarra River so much an integral part of Melbourne even today. This "Ghost" river will be a place of refuge for the boys and for others and the river knows. There is a lot of raw emotion in Birch's writing and there is also something spiritual here. One cannot help but be moved by the story and by these two young boys and their loyalty to one another. I finished this book and wanted to take a walk down by my little part of the Yarra, that meanders through my home town. After reading this I will revere this historic river even more and feel privileged that I live so close to it.

[Jodie How · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birch writes a poignant, easy-to-read Australian tale that is daringly honest, yet gripping. I could not put it down.

Two boys, closer than brothers, pioneer adventures that lead to more trouble than they bargained for.

Sonny and Ren’s story of adversary, loyalty and triumph is a fascinating and convincing read.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, engaging novel about two thirteen year olds, Sonny and Ren. Outside of school hours they hang out around the Yarra river, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia. There they befriend a group of mostly old homeless men. Sonny’s father has disappeared leaving Sonny alone in his rental house. Sonny finds work to support himself. The boys unwillingly get mixed up with the local gangsters. Their river is undergoing a redevelopment with council workers constructing a major road over the river. This will destroy the local habitat, the boys secret hideout places, and the homeless men’s shelter under an old bridge.

I am becoming a Tony Birch fan. This is my third Tony Birch book. I have found all three books very worthwhile reads. He is a good storyteller and his characters are well developed. He writes in a simple, direct manner, about the human interactions of young people.

This book was first published in 2015.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful coming of age/childhood boy friendship adventure river story. Nice level of tension throughout and a satisfying restrained ending. Beautiful read.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, this is a well-told tale of Australian boyhood. Or at least it was for the first three-quarters, when the tempo moved into suspense territory for a showy finish. Birch is a masterful storyteller, with the gift to evoke a place's smell and feel, and despite my general apathy towards the boyhood genre (and, honestly, to the Yarra which I have never had positive feelings towards), I stayed engaged throughout. The book never hit me where I live, and that's ok, not all books are for all people and I certainly don't regret it.
I did find the subplot about the religious family, presumably sexually and physically abusive, disturbing and not in the appropriate way. Maybe Birch's intent was simply to make it clear that these working class suburbs were full of tragedies, that the boys' lives weren't typically difficult, and that everyone has their own story. But the girl's behaviour is unusual for an abuse victim, and it felt at times as if the narrative implied she was 'bad news' as a result of her abuse. Perhaps it is just that I read Gillian Mears' Foal's Bread so recently, which deals with abuse in an insightful way, including challenging a likeable victim narrative, but I'm not sure this is a topic easy to use as background detail.
In contrast, the best parts of the book for me were the River Men, and the gentle portrayal of the kids' fathers and father figures. Relationships between men, and between men and boys, and the way they can be sustaining despite dysfunction, is rarely done this well. Both the boys are let down by parents real and substitute, but are also uplifted, saved and taught by them. In contrast, the institutions - from welfare, to police, to school, to planning - are the biggest hurdles these kids must face daily. they represent and enforce the poverty, violence and disrespect that dominate working class lives. It's so close to being a YA novel this one, but the bleak view of the world around the characters, and the violence they suffer, would be hard for young teens to process, I think.

[Jasmin Goldberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet story of friendship, courage and youthful adventure which was well written but honestly had a few too many moving parts for me too care that much about any of them. Between the development of the river, the river men, the neighbourhood cult and the gangsters I really wasn’t sure who or what I should be focusing on, the only saving grace of the book being the innocent childhood friendship between Ren and Sonny.

[Lisa Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this award winning Australian novel. Somebody from outside of Australia may have difficulty recognising some slang, but in my opinion it makes it feel like a piece of home.
I laughed out loud many times at the 2 boys, Ren & Sonny, as I so easily got to know these well written, mischievous characters.
I chose this book for my bookclub & I'm so glad I did. Not only did I get a chance to read a great book, but I've introduced others to a fantastic writer....

[Kali Napier · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* beautifully written. I learned a lot about managing point of view and layering themes. The final tale told by the river men is the perfect clincher.

[Susie Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

now the river does not look the same

[Riley Willcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a bit to get into but i ended up loving this book

Super special to have a novel like this set on a river I get to spend lots of time on/in

[Maureen Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony Birch is an amazing story-teller. Ghost River is a great read.

At one level, Ghost River is a coming-of-age story of two thirteen-year-old boys, introvert Ren and his more adventurous mate, Sonny. The boys live in Collingwood (an inner Melbourne suburb) in 1968. Their families are dysfunctional. Their friendship is cemented when Sonny rescues Ren from a school-yard bully. But Sonny, also, is beaten by his father and bullied by a teacher. He is expelled from school.

Factories spew toxic waste into the Yarra River near the boys'homes. The adjoining area had been used as a tip. But it is also the boys' playground. They explore. They swim. They dare each other to more dangerous, braver, exploits.

The boys are befriended by, and in turn befriend, a group of River Men. These misfits camp in makeshift shelter by the River Yarra. They tell wonderful stories of past times, former lives. There are rules for their story telling. Everyone must be heard. No interruptions.

The men share stories with the boys about the river. They call it Ghost River and tell how it reclaims its own. This myth pervades their lives. I imagine the men are Aboriginal. In one poignant scene, the corpse of one of the River Men is given back to the river. The boys watch. Perhaps the men have taken to the boys because they, also, are Aboriginal.

Much of Ghost River is bleak. There are criminal gangs who suck the boys into their work. There is a corrupt senior police officer. There is a cult church, with implicit sexual exploitation of young women. The area the boys know and care about is under threat from development.

But there is also much goodness and humour. Ren's mother is fiercely protective of her son. An uncle takes care of Sonny when his father leaves home abruptly. When the uncle takes ill, Ren's mother protects Sonny from the Welfare. There is the businessman who gives Sonny a job as a paper boy. He believes in the boys and protects them. There is Ren's love of birds and his desire to photograph them.

Ghost River is a page-turner. Tony Birch tells a cracking story and the plot moves fast. I read with my heart in my mouth. What could go wrong next? Each time, how would they escape? Was there any hope for these children? With the exception, perhaps, of the people involved with the cult, the characters feel real. I cared about them.

This story is also a tiny slice of social history of Melbourne immediately before coming of a Freeway to the area. It precedes the the gentrification of suburbs along the Yarra.

Ghost River is a long list finalist for the prestigious 2016 Miles Franklin and several other literary awards.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first pages of Tony Birch's novel Ghost River (UQP), you know you are in the hands of a masterful storyteller. Birch's language and dialogue is authentic, natural and easy, his characters are clear and real from the very start, and only become more endearing and complex as the narrative progresses, and the setting in which he immerses us is described in such vivid detail that we feel we are revisiting a place from our past.
The Ghost River of the title runs through the centre of this book like a character in itself, telling stories, keeping secrets, dispensing justice; a tangible thing with magical properties.
The story features the friendship that develops between two teenage boys, Sonny and Ren, over a period of about a year. Coming from vastly different family circumstances, the boys become neighbours when Sonny moves to town, and Birch depicts with great skill that special kind of adolescent bond that is both fierce and casual, loyal and off-hand. The intimacy of dreams shared, goals achieved, fears faced and losses suffered bring these two boys together in a way that will change everything.
The other important relationship in the book is between the two boys and the group of river men - five homeless Aboriginal men who shelter under a bridge and drink too much. But their stories and their wisdom, and their loyalty both to each other and to the boys, is portrayed with sensitivity and warmth.
Della, the daughter of a cult reverend who has just moved into the neighbourhood, is an isolated and lonely figure who, while mostly remaining on the periphery of the novel, casts a unsettling shadow over the boys.
This is a story about friendship, about fighting for what you believe in, about standing up for yourself and protecting those you hold dear. It examines the sway of men over boys, the power they wield and the penalties they exact. It depicts the resilience and determination of young men, their fragile egos balanced with their unerring sense of invincibility. It shows the wisdom and dignity of old men, even when they are broken and beaten down by life.
While Birch's work has wide appeal, I always feel his voice would especially speak to adolescent boys - both those that are struggling to read, or to find their place in the world, as well as to those who love to read and want to get their teeth into a gritty, raw and powerful piece of writing.

[Liz Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that kept me reading into the wee hours and wanting more. The simplicity of the prose and honest portrayals of the human spirit are the backbone of this novel. It tells the story of two boys coming of age in late 60s Melbourne. When Sonny moves into the neighbourhood he becomes fast friends with Ren, who lives in the house next door. The freedom the boys have to explore the river and to make friends with a group of homeless people living there is probably a relic of the past. They explore the river at a time it's been left to mild ruin but this is not the case now. The local interest drew me in but this is a universal story.
Tony Birch tells the tale with skill and respect for the reader. Bits of information are dropped in from time to time, not necessarily to inform the narrative then and there, but to give a bigger picture of the people by the river, and in Collingwood where the boys live. The story does not tie up in a bow as life doesn't tie up in a bow. I don't know if Tony Birch is planning a sequel, and I don't know if I necessarily want a sequel. This is a year in a life and it can be preserved as such. I did feel sad leaving the boys and other people in the book and this is credit to the storytelling gift Birch shares with us.

[Jess Carlisle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing but disappointing.

This book sucked me right in with its authentic characters and setting.

Two young, adolescent boys, Ren and Sonny, become automatic best friends when Sonny moves in next door. Ren shows him the river and they spend the summer exploring all its secrets, doing what teenage boys do.

One day, they encounter a group of strange men who live under the bridge by the river. The men share stories of life and fellowship living in the margins of society.

As the novel develops, many other characters and story threads are introduced. In a way, there is a sense of realism in the organic way these narratives emerge, but ultimately I found the novel was building up to a climax which never eventuated.

Della and her father, the reverend of a cult, also move into the street. Whilst the ambiguity of their practices is probably a deliberate part of Birch's subtle style, I was left wanting to know Della more, as well as what actually happened behind those closed doors. The 'resolution' to that part of the story was not at all convincing.

Overall, there are some magical moments in this novel which had a lot more potential. Perhaps I was naively hoping for a magical realist novel when I read the title.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well-written and, even though it is telling a relatively straightforward story, is quite an engrossing read. It is a strongly plot driven story, but Birch deftly handles a range of interesting themes centred around the friendship and adventures of two teenage boys, their close relationship with a group of old Aboriginal men, and the grim realities of impoverished city life, complete with gangsters and crooked cops, in Melbourne in the 60's. While there is much about the story that could be interpreted as bleak, I found the friendships, the old men's stories, and even the ending, to be both authentic and somehow uplifting. While some of the plot lines and side stories, such as the preachers family, felt under-developed, overall it was a satisfying read.

[Meagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Ghost River is the tale of two boys, Sonny and Ren, who become the best of mates, thick as thieves when Sonny moves into the same street as Ren. Sonny seems to court trouble, Ren is the quieter, more introspective of the pair.
Set in Melbourne in the late 1960's, we learn about the river men that the boys befriend, the ghost river and her secrets, and the choices that we make that can irrevocably change lives forever.
If you enjoy Tim Winton, Tony Birch's Ghost River is definitely worth reading.

[Tundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a beautifully constructed journey and coming of age story. I felt completely drawn in by the characters of Ren and Sonny who were loyal, mischievous, compassionate and courageous in equal measure. Birch has skilfully woven the river, through all its seasons, through this narrative in a way that creates a truly Australian sense of place. The river was a sensory and nostalgic experience, a snap shot of Australian life. I also really enjoyed the 'river men' and the special way Birch developed their place in the story of the river and the lives of Ren and Sonny.

[Kate Littlejohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* Tony Birch has such a unique way of writing. I find it quite raw and real. He seems to be able to evoke so many images and emotions in so few words. Ghost River is no exception. You were there, under that bridge with those boys, interacting with the homeless people, living their harsh reality yet still feeling a sense of tight community and ‘security’ (in a strange way). I also love the way in which Birch teaches his readers about Indigenous history, heritage and culture. In my opinion, he’s definitely one of Australia’s great writers.

[KJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant read.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

"The truth is, all of us will be forgotten one day. Unless we do something special"

I know nothing about Tony Birch or Melbourne so I didn't know what to expect from this book. What I surely didn't expect was to get so attached to the main characters and thoroughly enjoy the plot of the book. But that's exactly what happened.

Which is honestly surprising because I'm more of a plot-driven person rather than a character-driven reader. But from the way that the neighborhood is described, I could just imagine the way that that specific suburb looked like.

Something else I honestly loved was the way that it humanized people from all class ranges. From the beginning, the suburb isn't really inhabited by the rich or powerful but rather by regular people that have struggles. But not only that, Birch is also able to humanize that people that are lower on the scale. There was the introduction of characters that lived along the side of the Ghost River, what I came to found out was based on a real river in Melbourne called the Yarra River. They received the textbook description of homeless people. Yet you can't help but root for them, even though they themselves have resigned themselves to the life they have.

Ren and Sonny, the main characters of the book are completely polar opposites yet their friendship makes so much sense. The only way to describe them is that Ren is book smart while Sonny is street smart. They lean on each other and their loyalty shines through with all of the situations they find themselves in. I loved ever scene where they were both together.

The "Ghost River" is an integral part of the book because it became a place of refuge for Ren and Sonny while becoming the home of Tex, Doc, Tallboy and Tin Can. The way they all talk about the river makes it seem alive and even I believed it was nursing their struggles.

There was the introduction of a little suspense about a third into the book. It really sped up my reading because I was so invested in it and was dying to find out the secret behind the corrupt detective. Though I wish it didn't feel like it was placed in there to create some conflict, I did like the way it waved with the path that the story was taking so no lost points there.

The only and main reason I didn't fully give it five stars was simply because it dragged a bit in the middle. I lost interest when I got to that point that I was able to put down the book and picked it back up more than a month later.

[Susan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat of coming of age book but for a particular period in somewhat recent Australian history. Our two heroes, Sonny and Ren aged mid to late teens, growing up in Melbourne. I'm not familiar with Melbourne suburbs but the location seems working class on the lower income spectrum, post industrial with factories closing down or deserted, and and weaving its way through the environment is the river. A place of stories, A place of many secrets.

The neighbourhood and environs our heros live in come across as being 'gritty' - crooks, crooked cops, alcoholic homeless old men, a strange evangelical neighbour and his family whose observed actions don't feel right. You get the sense that Sonny is destined to be 'the bad one'; with Ren, his somewhat innocent sidekick. Their individual circumstances are quite different - Sonny, abandoned by his mother being raised by an alcoholic father until the old man disappears; Ren while not having a father, is certainly loved and supported by the man his mother is living with. In contrast to Sonny's progenitor; Archie comes across as a good man. There is an undercurrent of violence throughout the book, of things not quite legal. Weaving its way through the narrative is the river, full of stories and secret places.

Midway through the book, I tried to guess the possible outcome. Would Sonny become a crook, dead, or would he rise above his station and make a roaring success of his life. Would Ren become a renown wildlife photographer, or find himself falling in to Melbourne's criminal underbelly? We will never know. The author ending the novel before any real inkling of the outcome of the boys lives; but instead a provides an interesting resolution which leaves their future open.

This was not an easy book to get into but I enjoyed it all the same.

[Jane Haggis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost River is a haunting story of the friendship between two thirteen year old boys coming to maturity on the wrong side of the Yarra River in 1970s Melbourne. For Sonny and Rem the river, polluted and derelict, offers freedom, adventure and community with the homeless men who shelter on its banks and introduce them to its mysteries. Weaving together his knowledge of marginal lives and indigenous world views, Birch makes the river a palpable character in the novel: mercurial, wild and ultimately protective of those who respect it. The climax of the book had me totally caught up in the drama as the river helps resolve the tangled webs of development, crime and corruption, love and loss and ultimately the maturing of the boys into young adults. There is a quietude about Birch's prose which belies his skill in layering characters, their lives and connections. Except perhaps in the female characters. The two women who figure are Rem's mum, Loretta, and young Della, whose family move into the house next to Sonny's. Loretta adds emotional warmth to the depictions of struggling families while Della hints at sexuality, power and desire. Birch avoids stereotyping either of them as passive victims but Della's character especially is not quite realized. Ultimately this is a book about boys, men and masculinities on the margins of a gritty city. Male violence is ever present as threat and act but Birch insists there is a softer side to these hard men and boys, a resistance to the grinding brutality of daily life on the edge, and one the river knows and respects. Romantic? I don't think so. More a recognition that ways of being, however harsh, still carry love and care.

[Jane Haggis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost River is a haunting story of the friendship between two thirteen year old boys coming to maturity on the wrong side of the Yarra River in 1970s Melbourne. For Sonny and Rem the river, polluted and derelict, offers freedom, adventure and community with the homeless men who shelter on its banks and introduce them to its mysteries. Weaving together his knowledge of marginal lives and indigenous world views, Birch makes the river a palpable character in the novel: mercurial, wild and ultimately protective of those who respect it. The climax of the book had me totally caught up in the drama as the river helps resolve the tangled webs of development, crime and corruption, love and loss and ultimately the maturing of the boys into young adults. There is a quietude about Birch's prose which belies his skill in layering characters, their lives and connections. Except perhaps in the female characters. The two women who figure are Rem's mum, Loretta, and young Della, whose family move into the house next to Sonny's. Loretta adds emotional warmth to the depictions of struggling families while Della hints at sexuality, power and desire. Birch avoids stereotyping either of them as passive victims but Della's character especially is not quite realized. Ultimately this is a book about boys, men and masculinities on the margins of a gritty city. Male violence is ever present as threat and act but Birch insists there is a softer side to these hard men and boys, a resistance to the grinding brutality of daily life on the edge, and one the river knows and respects. Romantic? I don't think so. More a recognition that ways of being, however harsh, still carry love and care.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost River means many things. Set in Collingwood, Melbourne but a time not stated. It is heavily implied by events and description as is post-war, probably the 1960s. Times are tough for two boys, Ren and Sonny who find escape in the local river (which is probably the Yarra). Hidden away from the world around them they swim and dive spending time together. One day they make friends with a group of homeless men.

Friendships, belonging, a sense of place (and place lost)and coming of age. Underlying these themes a challenge to the very sense of “fair go” Australia. It treats this whole notion as myth and the author shows us why.

Tony Birch is a great story teller. Here the author builds stories within stories. Linking community and lost community with a time past. Using the shared experiences of the two main characters works well and I really enjoyed reading about their exploits, and their runs in with the dreaded Foy. Five stars a must read.

[Emma Balkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tribute to the fierceness of childhood friendships, Ghost River details the adventures of Ren and Sonny, as they grow up around Collingwood in the 1960s. The title refers to the backdrop of the Yarra River, with its dangers and delights, as well as the home for itinerant and entertaining men. It sustains life but is also where people and other objects were sometimes disposed of after death. Sonny is resourceful yet risky, running all sorts of odd jobs after being kicked out of school, encountering both kind and terrible men in this daily life. Ren is more of an observer, trying to protect those around him, including the river men and even Della, who moves in near by but faces the threat of her predatory religious father.
I loved hearing about the ‘emu run’ done at race tracks, the Mighty Apollo who performed superhuman stunts and enjoyed envisioning the Yarra in the period before it was restructured and transformed to allow for the Eastern Freeway.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensitive, honest Australian story with characters usually left out of popular, mainstream fiction, tendered with an expert and unjudgmental touch. All characters are richly and skilfully drawn, managing to leave questions without seeming unfinished, life as a continuum where not everything needs all background or outcome provided - things alluded to briefly to explain a behaviour but no full story provided, because it is not needed yet sufficient that curiousity remains. The depiction of the river is excellent, skilfully weaving ugly, current realities with a spiritual depth that has its origins rooted in an ancient past. This story marries friendship with responsibility to care for one another, what it is to be a good person and what it is to be truly alive.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, about friendship and life in inner city Melbourne before freeways. Ren and Sonny become good friends when Sonny and his Dad move in next door. They spend most of their free time down by the river discovering it’s history and it’s secrets. They meet a group of vagrants who have set up camp under the bridge and they enjoy all the stories they have to tell. Then one day they meet a couple of surveyors working down by the river, a freeway is going to be built and the river diverted, then the bull dozers move in. It is their river, they can’t do this. When Sonny’s Dad leaves, Sonny leaves school and gets a paper run, and Ren helps him out sometimes, and then they get hooked into doing jobs for the local gangster, Vincent, they don’t want to do it anymore, but how can they stop him? Change is coming, and the boys need to grow up

[Helen O'Sh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age book about two teenaged boys Ren and Sonny growing up in Collingwood in the 1960s. They befriend a group of tramps living down on the river, battle with local organised crime, and a bunch of other adventures (jumping off bridges, trying to stop a freeway being built, getting a newspaper job and making ends meet, being poor and hungry, having a useless dad, characters in Collingwood, the crazy religious family next door, )

Another book that grew on me. Loved the setting in Collingwood and the Yarra and the tough life of growing up poor there. A good tale with a happy ending (phew 😅) and great characters.