Author(s): Sally Murphy

Fiction (8 to 12 years) | Verse Novels

Exploring the true story of the St Kilda merry go round during World War 1, by Australia's most revered verse novelistIn Melbourne's St Kilda, as World War 1 begins, Anton, a German immigrant fulfils his dream of creating the most beautiful steam-driven "riding gallery" - a merry go round - in the world. Evelyn, who has just moved to the city befriends local boy Rory, but the war, and anti-German sentiment, soon takes its toll on the children, Anton, their families, and the riding gallery itself.Based on true events, this is a cleverly structured, multiple point-of-view story, including poems created from contemporaneous newspaper headlines, and Sally Murphy at her finest form.