A House Divided

I enjoyed Clare Hallifax's middle grade novel, A House Divided, immensely. I guess it would be classed as historical fiction, as it's set in 1975, the year of the Whitlam dismissal. My family was in PNG in the mid-70s, so I don't remember anything contemporary from this time; I didn't become aware of (and horrified by) these political events until a few years later. 

In A House Divided, grade 6 student Juliet's dad works in the heart of the Whitlam government, and journalists, public servants and politicians, even Gough himself, are familiar figures in her home. But Juliet's grandmother is much more conservative, and her new friend Robbie's parents are alos public servants, but lean more to the right. It's not all politics, though; this is also a story about tensions in a friendship, and just about growing up in the Australia of the 70's -- watching Countdown and Dr Who, the excitement of colour TV, riding bikes and swimming unsupervised, boring food, European migration, the loosening of divorce laws, no smart phones for easy contact, Norman Gunston.

A House Divided was a really fun and engaging read, and I hope that kids find it and enjoy it for its own sake, and not for the nostalgia that undoubtedly coloured my own experience. (PS What a gorgeous cover!)