Not just a heart-warming story of an Irish-Australian family in the 1950s, who despite their feckless father, have the ability and determination to succeed. This book excels because of its wonderful descriptions of the Australian bush and in particular, the knowledge about and the art of fighting the bush fires which so often sweep this country.
The thing I couldn't understand was ... we never seemed to benefit from Tommy's life as a burglar. The Shamrock did, the SP bookie did, but our family fortunes remained permanently at low tide. I mean, he couldn't have got nabbed every time he did a heist could he?