This book of short stories came into being through the generosity of Cecile in helping the author financially as well giving her some much needed appreciation.
Set in 1940s Melbourne, the readers' intermediary. Connie, a socially
marginal and observant little girl, takes in events both every day and
sensational without full understanding.
The lack of communication between adult and child, except to
reprimand, renders the adult world bemusing and untrustworthy. When Connie is
innocent of wrongdoing, when she is bullied or even touched inappropriately she
knows the futility of defending herself. She tries at times to defend others
equally powerless in the prevailing narrow social structure.
At the same time, without iPad or iPod, or undue adult
protection or interest in her private world, she is free to explore her
neighbourhood and to develop her own imaginative world. Her chivalrous
adventures as Lady Fuchsia sit oddly with the glowing neon girls of her dreams,
who awaken in her a desire for a less insular, more glamorous life.
Easy to read and easy to dip into, Signs of flight evokes a past when Australian suburban society
pictures itself as a stable self-contained world but at
the same time the signs of its permeability are clearly visible.
Thanks Cecile.
