Hear The Train Blow: Patsy Adam-Smith's Classic Autobiography Of Growing Up In The Bush
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Mylar layer on jacket
A beloved classic of Australian memoir literature, Hear the Train Blow chronicles the remarkable childhood and adolescence of Patsy Adam-Smith, who grew up in the remote bush and railway camps of Victoria during the 1930s and 1940s. With warmth, humor, and an unflinching eye for detail, the narrative paints a vivid portrait of a vanishing Australia — one defined by itinerant railway workers, isolated communities, and the rhythms of a hard but richly textured rural life. Adam-Smith recounts her unconventional upbringing with a storyteller's gift, capturing the resilience and camaraderie of working-class Australians who carved out lives far from the comforts of the city. The prose carries a deeply nostalgic yet unsentimental tone, grounding each memory in the sights, sounds, and characters of a world that has largely disappeared. Widely regarded as one of the finest Australian autobiographies of the twentieth century, it stands as both a personal coming-of-age story and an invaluable social history of bush life.
Author: Patsy Adam-Smith
Format: Hardback
Published: 1981, Nelson
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Mylar layer on jacket
A beloved classic of Australian memoir literature, Hear the Train Blow chronicles the remarkable childhood and adolescence of Patsy Adam-Smith, who grew up in the remote bush and railway camps of Victoria during the 1930s and 1940s. With warmth, humor, and an unflinching eye for detail, the narrative paints a vivid portrait of a vanishing Australia — one defined by itinerant railway workers, isolated communities, and the rhythms of a hard but richly textured rural life. Adam-Smith recounts her unconventional upbringing with a storyteller's gift, capturing the resilience and camaraderie of working-class Australians who carved out lives far from the comforts of the city. The prose carries a deeply nostalgic yet unsentimental tone, grounding each memory in the sights, sounds, and characters of a world that has largely disappeared. Widely regarded as one of the finest Australian autobiographies of the twentieth century, it stands as both a personal coming-of-age story and an invaluable social history of bush life.