A Curious & Inelegant childhood

By Linda Ruth Brooks

Out riding till the streetlights come on, watch out if you're late A small Australian country town in the 50s and 60s. A village with few entertainments and little parental supervision. However, the natural world offers unique charms, a muddy creek where stolen tyres form a pirate raft, a suspension bridge where courage is tested, cool mountain streams.Often out of step, Brooks declares war on the Dunce Hat, prayers of repentance in the coat room and teachers who bully students. Amid muddy creek adventures, neighbourhood skirmishes and school insurrections Brooks abandons any effort to fit in. Caned habitually for talking in class, Linda finds redemption under the warm understanding of her fifth year teacher, the first to nurture and explain life.

In this fast paced, often hilarious memoir, Brooks shares her childhood memories of growing up in rural Australia in the Fifties and Sixties. This tightly woven collection of stories contains the warm and poignant reminiscences of a curious child fascinated by the world and its people, having a joyous passion for life, and an irrepressible thirst for answers. With fearless, self deprecating humour, Brooks pares back the layers of family life, taking us on a rare journey of self discovery.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1764212134
• ISBN13: 9781764212137
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Linda Ruth Brooks
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"