Author(s): Ian Reid

Contemporary

In 1912, young Harry Hopewell arrives in Perth to work on the construction of a wireless station commissioned by the new federal government. He is full of excitement about the miraculous new world of possibilities opened up by radio transmission, and buoyed by his growing friendship with Nellie Weston, the bakers daughter. Harrys boundless optimism for life and the future is quelled by the sudden, unexplained disappearance of Nellie and her family. Unable to track her down, he meanders through life, increasingly disconnected from his youthful aspirations until an accident and the Depression bring him to a halt. However, chance encounters from his past bring some resolution to his life.