Books with author James Aldridge

The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea - Or The Loss of The Lonesome Bar is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Janet Aldridge is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Janet Aldridge then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

It was while he was thus engaged that five young girls and a young woman some years their senior got down from a coach to the railway platform where they stood gazing expectantly about them. The young women were dressed in tasteful blue serge suits with hats of the same material a sort of uniform the villagers decided and had not the station platform been too dark the eager spectators would have seen that the faces of the visitors were tanned almost to swarthiness.' (Excerpt from Chapter 1)

Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, 1987Winner of the Ethel Turner Prize, 1986Hailed as an Australian Huckleberry Finn, The True Story of Spit MacPhee is a timeless piece of literature. Originally published in 1986, and set in the 1930s in the fictional Murray River town of St Helen, it captures a time and place with a beautiful balance of realism and nostalgia.When young Spit MacPhee comes to live with his grandfather, the people of St Helen fear for his future. Fyfe MacPhee is a crazy old man, and barefoot Spit has to fend for himself along the riverbank where they live. While some people feel that Spit can look after himself, others believe he'd be better cared for in a boys' home.When Fyfe MacPhee dies, Spit becomes the subject of a court case that polarizes the town. But young Spit is a strong and resolute character, and can more than look after himself. When the truth about his life with his grandfather is revealed, no one is left unchanged. The True Story of Spit MacPhee is a much-loved, quintessentially Australian novel for readers of all ages.James Aldridge was a multi-award winning Australian author. His 1995 novel The True Story of Lilli Stubeck was the Children's Book Council book of the year. His novel A Sporting Proposition became the 1975 Disney film Ride a Wild Pony. Spit MacPhee was adapted into a TV mini-series in 1988. James Aldridge died in early 2015.