PAPERBACK EDITION. CREASES TO SPINE AND COVER
First published in 1963, Sumner Locke Elliott?s Careful, He Might Hear You is a big, beautiful, bold-hearted book set in Sydney during the Great Depression. It?s most definitely a five-star read.
PS, short for postscript, is an ?almost orphan?: his mother, the writer Sinden, died in childbirth and he hasn?t seen his father, the good-looking but feckless Logan, ever since he left to seek his fortune on the gold fields. Now in the care of his Aunt Lila (Sinden?s sister) and Uncle George, PS is a happy, well-adjusted six-year-old boy, adored by a big collection of crazy aunts.
But things change when his well-educated, well off Aunt Vanessa, who lives in London, returns home to Sydney to take ?proper care? of him. She?s a rather snobby character, who reflects the ?cultural cringe? of the time and thinks nothing in Australia, including the accents, is good enough. In her pursuit to turn PS into a gentleman, he comes into her care on week days so that he can attend a private school and take extra curricular lessons, such as music and riding. He returns to Lila and George on the weekends.