cover has been used with permission from Penguin Books (Australia)
Thursday's Child
Sonya Hartnett’s
Commissioned by Sydney Theatre Company Education, Monkey Baa will adapt and creatively develop a theatrical script based on this extraordinary novel by Sonya Hartnett.
The Story
Thursday’s Child is Tin, born on a Thursday and, like the old nursery rhyme ‘has far to go.’ A strange and lonely child who digs, his wanderings take him underneath the earth into the subterranean tunnels that he’s pre-destined to roam. Told by Tin's sister, Harper Flute, it is a story of a family’s struggle on their desolate farm during the great depression.
There is death, crop failure, neighbourhood and family disputes. Tin is an ever present but mystical essence in their lives. Harper narrates her family’s struggle to survive on the hot and impoverished land and as life on the surface grows harsher, her little brother escapes ever deeper into a dark, subterranean world.
The play explores the spirit of hard struggle with change, cruel misfortune and the idea that life is a pre-determined fall from a great height. Thursday’s Child is a poignant and intriguing story, ending in great hope.
Most suitable for young people aged 12 – 16 years
Sonya Hartnett’s Thursday’s Child will tour Australia in 2009
Order Thursday’s Child by Sonya Hartnett at Gleebooks Children’s Bookshop online.