The Golden Age: A Novel

by Joan London

Paperback, 2016

Call number

FIC LON

Collection

Publication

Europa Editions (2016), 224 pages

Description

Escaping the perils of World War II Hungary for Australia, Frank is diagnosed with polio and sent to a children's hospital where he falls in love with a fellow patient while their families struggle to adjust to life in a new culture.

User reviews

LibraryThing member lesleynicol
To begin with I didn't think I was going to like this book. The subject matter of kids in hospital didn't appeal to me but on further reading I really loved it. It examines the lives of a group of children aged from babies to about 13 who are undergoing rehab. in an old hotel called "The Golden
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Age" in Western Aust. in the 1950's. Having survived the horrors of having contracted Polio in the epidemic and their period of survival in hospital they must now endure further time away from their families and undergo extensive physio, exercise and training. This book is unusual as we see things from the child's point of view and realise what adjustments they had to make amid the realisation that life will never be the same and that they will always be "handicapped".. The main character is 13y.o .Frank, the son of Jewish/Hungarian refugees. His family has already endured the horrors of war-torn Europe and now must face the future with their only son having been stricken by polio. He becomes infatuated with another young teenager, Elsa and the pair form a loving and innocent bond. They cling to each other for support during this trying time only to have their friendship misconstrued by the authorities, who have them expelled and separated. Such was the understanding in those years and one wonders if it would be any different today. A very insightful book which much "food fore thought". We always gave thanks for those who survived this epidemic but probably did not give enough thought as to "how" their lives were affected afterwards.
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LibraryThing member PhilipJHunt
This is a slice of life from a children's polio hosiptal in Perth in the early 1950s. We meet the kids, the staff and the families and enter into their struggles. It took me a while to get into this. Half way through I set it aside for a day and then returned. I was glad I did. For many pages there
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seems to be no moving plotline. It reads like a bunch of tenuously connected short stories. The writing is lovely, make no mistake, but where are we going? Then about half way in the various strands overlap and entwine quite satisfactorily. There is a quite tender love story, well a couple actually, the London evokes with great authenticity.
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LibraryThing member mjlivi
The second last book in my quest to read the 2015 Stella Prize longlist. I wasn't hugely taken by London's previous novel, Gilgamesh, so I wasn't super excited to tackle this. Somewhat surprisingly, I loved it - a gorgeously written evocation of a 1950s children's polio rehabilitation centre in
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Perth, The Golden Age has a lot to say about love, family, independence and coming to terms with the hand life deals you. The supporting characters are rich and memorable (Frank's parents in particular), while the two teenagers at the centre of the plot feel a bit idealised. The writing is luminous and the sense of time and place effortlessly conveyed.

(The cover of the book is ludicrous though - there's no character who fits the demographic of the dude on the cover, and no train trips in the whole book. A bafflingly lazy bit of production.)
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LibraryThing member MaximWilson
I gave it 8/10 at our book club. I loved the style of writing, and gave it yo my 13 yo grandson to read , and he likes it too. I liked the medical aspect, the history of the eradication of polio, and the current status of that fight. Thinking of anti-vaccers gives me the horrors. I liked the lead
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to the poetry of Byron , and "The Bridge" by an American.
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LibraryThing member bobbieharv
I thought I'd like this more than I did - found it a little slow, and the story seemed to trail off at the end. But it was an interesting depiction of the polio epidemic set in Perth, written mostly from the point of view of a boy and a girl.
LibraryThing member siri51
Evocative story set in 1950's Perth hospital home for children recovering from polio. Frank and Elsa are young teenagers growing close and later 'expelled' for being found in the same bed. Beautifully written from many character's points of view it is quiet, poetic novel about a real place and
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time. The final chapter was somewhat unexpected having jumped forward many years - they didn't stay together.
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LibraryThing member tangledthread
This an evocative story set primarily in Australia in the early 1950's. The effects of WWII are still resonating throughout the world and the specter of polio haunts every family during these epidemic years. The main characters are Frank (Ferec) and Elsa, two young adolescents in a residential
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rehab center in Perth, undergoing treatment as they recover from polio.

There are several parallel stories of exile through the book. These two young teens have been exiled from their families and school in the Golden Age rehab home. Frank's parents are war refugee's from Budapest. Several of the care providers in the Golden Age are also from away.

The author sets the tone through her descriptions of the environment and her well drawn characters. Although the story mainly involves Frank and Elsa, there are several sub-stories that enhance the plot and draw the reader into the narrative.

The writing is quiet and understated, reminiscent of Kent Haruf's style of writing. The author lovingly and charitably draws her characters, causing the reader the care about what happens to them.
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LibraryThing member DAVIDGOTTS
Very well written story set in a children's polio convalescent hospital in the 1950's. The characters are well structured. The audience is left wondering when Elsa and Frank would get together as they seemed made for each other. As to whether or not they do, well, you will have to read the book!
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
A few years ago I read Second Chances by Harriet Zaidman which takes place in Winnipeg during the 1950s polio epidemic. This book was mentioned as further reading as it takes place in Australia in a rehab hospital for children with polio. But it is so much more than just a story about polio and the
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writing is wonderful.

Frank Gold came to Australia with his parents from Hungary, all having survived the Nazis during the war. Australia wasn't their first choice but it is the first place that offered them a home away from the chaos of post-war Hungary. His mother, a concert pianist in Budapest, does not like Perth where they have been settled but his father has taken to the new life. When Frank contracted polio his mother saw it as a final curse and stopped playing the piano. Frank is twelve years old when he gets polio and initially he was in the adult hospital but after his friend, Sullivan, died it was felt that he would be better off with children so he is sent to The Golden Age. Sullivan was in an iron lung and Frank used to sit with him and they would talk about poetry. Transcribing Sullivan's poems and writing some of his own led Frank to decide that being a poet would be his life's vocation. Frank is the oldest patient in the Golden Age but he notices Elsa who is just a little younger and they are drawn together. Soon they try to find places to be alone together and, if that's not possible, to at least have private conversations. They are perhaps a little young to be "in love" but they definitely love each other. The author intersperses the story of Frank and Elsa with ruminations about other people connected with them so we learn about how Frank's mother was able to protect Frank when the Nazis were rounding up everyone of Jewish heritage. And we learn about Sister Olive Penny whose husband died early in the war and whose daughter has been placed with friends in order to attend school which leaves their relationship somewhat strained. Sister Penny is wonderful with the patients and always seems to be wherever someone is needed but she has to make do with a series of men for her own needs. The reader comes to care for each character in the book, even Elsa's jealous younger sister.

I was discussing this book with a friend who contracted polio when she was an infant. She thought the book was wonderfully written but she wondered if she felt that because of her own circumstances. I was able to reassure her that it was a book that would speak to a great many people as it did to myself. One review I read compared the author, favourable, to Alice Munro and I think that is an apt comparison. The Golden Age was written in 2014 and it doesn't appear that the author has published anything since which is a pity. There are some previous works, both short stories and novels, so I will have to look for those but, unfortunately, there don't appear to be any in my library system.
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Awards

Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2016)
New South Wales Premier's Literary Award (Winner — People's Choice Award — 2015)
Wellcome Trust Book Prize (Longlist — 2017)
Australian Book Industry Awards (Shortlist — Literary Fiction — 2015)
Queensland Literary Awards (Finalist — Fiction — 2015)
Voss Literary Prize (Longlist — 2015)
Miles Franklin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2015)
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards (Winner — Fiction — 2016)
ALS Gold Medal (Shortlist — Shortlist — 2015)
Stella Prize (Shortlist — 2015)
Prime Minister's Literary Award (Winner — Fiction — 2015)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Historical Fiction — 2016)

Pages

224

ISBN

1609453328 / 9781609453329

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