He left the first shortly after the death of Sullivan, the eighteen-year-old who had shown him the way to what he is convinced is his vocation as a poet. Set in the years immediately before the discovery of an effective polio vaccination, London’s novel quietly and compassionately explores the far-reaching effects of this devastating illness.Ĭonverted from an old pub on the outer edge of suburban Perth, the Golden Age is Frank’s second rehabilitation home.
He and Elsa are patients recovering from polio in a children’s convalescent home, both of them now shunned by society. Frank is the thirteen-year-old son of Jewish-Hungarian parents, refugees settled in 1950s Australia. Both also share the theme which runs through The Golden Age: the plight of the outsider, or in this case, outsiders. Both Joan London’s previous novels – Gilgamesh and The Good Parents – stand out for me as fine examples of clean, elegant writing, free of unnecessary ornament.
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