What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I read this book between 1988-1991 and I believe it was a new release. It took place in Australia during the Depression (1930s) but may also have had episodes before that time. I believe that a man who was a dwarf was an important character; also, riding in the boxcars of a train was in one scene, at least, if not a recurring situation.

Swords and Crowns and Rings is the book I get from "novel dwarf depression australia"

http://www.nla.gov.au/friends/ruth/ho... Swords and Crowns and Rings (1977), winner of the Miles Franklin Award of that year and highly commended by the National Book Council, is in some ways a departure in Park's adult fiction although it draws once again on her remarkable historical knowledge and sense of period and place. Combining myth and realism in an original way and set mainly in rural Australia 1907-32, it is the story of a dwarf's quest for self-acceptance, love and dignity. Jackie Hanna's encounters with a range of largely mean-spirited individuals as his quest takes him from his home town of Kingsland to outback New South Wales and finally to Sydney, and his dogged grip on life, are reminiscent of Steinbeck. The story of his relationship with his sweetheart, Cushie Moy, however, introduces softer, more romantic and fantastic elements, heightening the story's mythic power.

Well! Thank you, Kaion, for your reply and this synopsis. Unbelievably, neither the title nor the plot nor the book cover rings a bell for me! I am disappointed that I am not shouting out,"Yes!" I may need to locate a copy to reread it. But surely there can't be many other books with keywords Australia/dwarf/early 20th Century. Thanks again.

:( get back to us if you do get your hands on a copy?

*shrug* I won't presume little people traveling the wilds during the Great Depression isn't a well-known subgenre Down-Under!

The Year of Living Dangerously is Australian and one of the characters is a little person... but it takes place in Jakarta, not in the 30s, and it's a political thriller?

I did buy the book and it is the right one! I haven't read it yet -- saving it for next month -- but I did start it and recognized it. Thank you again. Well done!