Dert And Do

By Louisa Lawson

A lonely post and telegraph clerk stands at the edge of other people's lives, observing their messages while lacking a household of his own. When Harry Brentnell encounters the Heath family, he is drawn into a troubled yet affectionate domestic world shaped by poverty, illness, private sorrow and the daily effort to preserve respectability. Humour and romance mingle with religious reflection and melodrama as ordinary family life exposes the distance between public appearances and suffering behind closed doors. Childhood imagination supplies some of the novel's most distinctive contrasts. Gertrude Dorothy, known as Dert, speaks in lively phonetic language, while games, lessons and domestic meals sit beside grief, alcoholism and class prejudice. The boarding-house setting brings maternal devotion and gendered vulnerability into close quarters, allowing comic exchanges to turn suddenly serious. Harry's frequent soliloquies add another register, revealing loneliness through a voice that moves between colloquial observation, sentiment and embedded verse. From the routines of the post office and church to city streets and Bondi beach, this suburban domestic drama places social tensions within recognisable communal spaces. An improvised aquarium and shark exhibition provides one of its more unusual images, yet the central concerns remain human: faith under pressure, affection amid hardship, and the precarious boundary between belonging and isolation. As a Christmas story, it combines seasonal religious concerns with the realities of family life rather than separating celebration from poverty and loss. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 937841947X
• ISBN13: 9789378419478
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 42 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"