''Swords and Crowns and Rings'' is a

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

-winning novel by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n author

Ruth Park Rosina Ruth Lucia Park AM (24 August 191714 December 2010) was a New Zealand–born Australian author. Her best known works are the novels ''The Harp in the South'' (1948) and ''Playing Beatie Bow'' (1980), and the children's radio serial ''Th ...

. It mainly follows the stories of two children in a town in rural

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

across three decades at the start of the 20th century. The primary protagonist, Jackie Hanna, is born a "dwarf" in

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. ...

to Walter and Peggy Hanna, two grocers in Kingsland, NSW. Jackie's father Walter dies during his childhood, and his mother remarries to a veteran of the Boer War. The secondary protagonist, Dorothy "Cushie" Moy, is born to a wealthy family; her father is a banker and her mother the daughter of a newspaper tycoon. In their youth, the two protagonists fall in love, and much of the book arcs around the circumstances and misfortunes that keep them apart. In particular, a substantial portion of the book focuses on Jackie's experiences as an

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who Human migration, migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant worker ...

through the

Great Depression in Australia Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, povert ...

, including interactions with New South Wales Premier Jack

Lang Lang may refer to: *Lang (surname), a surname of independent Germanic or Chinese origin Places * Lang Island (Antarctica), East Antarctica * Lang Nunatak, Antarctica * Lang Sound, Antarctica * Lang Park, a stadium in Brisbane, Australia * Lang, ...

. The book is divided into six chapters: 1. Jackie Hanna, Cushie Moy 1907–1918 2. Jackie Hanna 1924 3. Cushie Moy 1924–1925 4. Jackie Hanna 1924–1929 5. Jackie Hanna 1931 6. Jackie Hanna, Cushie Moy 1931–1932

References

Middlemiss.org
1977 Australian novels Miles Franklin Award-winning works Novels by Ruth Park {{1970s-novel-stub