by John Harris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 1956

A pleasant novel about Joe and Rosa Salomio, a middle-aged Italian-Australian couple, who, when the mortgage on Joe's fishing boat is about to fall due with no money to pay it, decide to run off and hide among the many south Pacific Islands. With them go their sixteen-year-old tomboy daughter, Frankie, and Wilse Keeley, a young man who wants to get away from Sydney, too, but for a more sinister reason- he has knifed a boy in a fight. As they sail in their little tub on an impossible voyage, Willie develops from a slum punk into a more admirable man who knows something about living, working, and loving; Frankie reaches maturity through her love for Willie; Rosa shows her amazing strength, and Joe his weakness. All the while they are hunted by the police, looking for the murderer, and a newspaperman, looking for the human interest story that the Salomios are. Though the chase is never very pressingly developed, the four main characters are believable and likable. Not an exciting book, but nicely done.

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 1956

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow-Sloane

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1956

Categories: FICTION