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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
The Golden Age by Joan London
4.0
‘Once you get used to your condition, he said, your imagination becomes free again.’
The Golden Age is set in a convalescent home for children who were victims of poliomyelitis in Perth, Western Australia in the early 1950s. (The Golden Age Convalescent Home for Polio Children which operated in Leederville from 1949 to 1959, really existed. It was once a hotel, and has since been demolished.) This novel tells the story of a twelve year boy, Frank Gold. Frank and his parents Ida and Meyer were Hungarian refugees who had wanted to go to America but had reluctantly come to Australia. Meyer has adapted, Ida has not. And when Frank contracts polio after they settle in Perth, she has even less reason to be happy. Ida was once a concert pianist, but once Frank became ill she no longer played.
‘Once you have tasted meaninglessness, you lose any idea of reward, or punishment, or conventional virtue.’
Frank has been moved from the adult polio hospital (where he was the youngest patient) to The Golden Age (where he is the oldest). At first he is not happy about this move, coming soon after the death of Sullivan (aged 18) whom he’d met in the iron lung ward. Sullivan had composed poetry, which Frank transcribed for him, and the two of them had become close.
At The Golden Age, Frank explores the corridors in his wheelchair, trying to catch a glimpse of Elsa, the only other child of his age. The two become friends. The reader learns more about each of them, about Elsa’s strength and sense of self, about Frank’s intense desire to belong and to write poetry. There’s an encounter which changes both their lives, and quite soon after the story moves (abruptly) to the present day and we learn a little about the intervening years of their lives.
The story is told in the third-person, and moves through a number of different points of view. I enjoyed this, as it gave an opportunity to see events through the lives of some of the other characters including Frank’s father, Elsa’s mother and Sister Olive Penny who is in charge at The Golden Age. Through Frank and Elsa, Ms London describes the onset, impact and isolation caused by polio. Through their parents (particularly Elsa’s mother and Frank’s parents) she describes the post-war world in Australia, the impacts of difference, disease and war. It’s a rich world, shaped but not destroyed by events. I read this novel accompanied by memories of my father, who contracted polio as a young man (in Tasmania) during this epidemic.
This is the kind of story that stays with you, long after you’ve finished reading it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The Golden Age is set in a convalescent home for children who were victims of poliomyelitis in Perth, Western Australia in the early 1950s. (The Golden Age Convalescent Home for Polio Children which operated in Leederville from 1949 to 1959, really existed. It was once a hotel, and has since been demolished.) This novel tells the story of a twelve year boy, Frank Gold. Frank and his parents Ida and Meyer were Hungarian refugees who had wanted to go to America but had reluctantly come to Australia. Meyer has adapted, Ida has not. And when Frank contracts polio after they settle in Perth, she has even less reason to be happy. Ida was once a concert pianist, but once Frank became ill she no longer played.
‘Once you have tasted meaninglessness, you lose any idea of reward, or punishment, or conventional virtue.’
Frank has been moved from the adult polio hospital (where he was the youngest patient) to The Golden Age (where he is the oldest). At first he is not happy about this move, coming soon after the death of Sullivan (aged 18) whom he’d met in the iron lung ward. Sullivan had composed poetry, which Frank transcribed for him, and the two of them had become close.
At The Golden Age, Frank explores the corridors in his wheelchair, trying to catch a glimpse of Elsa, the only other child of his age. The two become friends. The reader learns more about each of them, about Elsa’s strength and sense of self, about Frank’s intense desire to belong and to write poetry. There’s an encounter which changes both their lives, and quite soon after the story moves (abruptly) to the present day and we learn a little about the intervening years of their lives.
The story is told in the third-person, and moves through a number of different points of view. I enjoyed this, as it gave an opportunity to see events through the lives of some of the other characters including Frank’s father, Elsa’s mother and Sister Olive Penny who is in charge at The Golden Age. Through Frank and Elsa, Ms London describes the onset, impact and isolation caused by polio. Through their parents (particularly Elsa’s mother and Frank’s parents) she describes the post-war world in Australia, the impacts of difference, disease and war. It’s a rich world, shaped but not destroyed by events. I read this novel accompanied by memories of my father, who contracted polio as a young man (in Tasmania) during this epidemic.
This is the kind of story that stays with you, long after you’ve finished reading it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith