Lizzie's Tale

Lizzie’s Tale

Old Balmain House - Book 2

 Novel by Graham Wilson

Copyright

Lizzie’s Tale

Graham Wilson

Copyright Graham Wilson 2013

BeyondBeyond Books Edition

ISBN: 9780987197122

Authors Preface

This novel continues part of the story of the Old Balmain House. It tells of a poor family who come to live in this house at a time when Australia was moving into the 1960s, still a highly conservative society but on the brink of major change. It imagines the life of a girl who makes a very painful journey from childhood to adulthood, at a time when teenage pregnancy almost invariably meant forced adoption and the social stigma for unwed mothers made their lives unbelievably difficult. While the characters are not based on any real persons, the treatment of pregnant women in society and, in particular what happened to teenage girls who became pregnant, are very much features of Australian life in the 1960s. Therefore this story is something that could have happened to a person like Lizzie; so it becomes her tale.

 

Prologue

It was September 1956, a warm spring morning in Sydney. Lizzie lay in bed, she loved her room. It looked out onto the Smith Street, Balmain. In the early morning the sunshine came in, helping her get up for school. She had just turned eight and felt very proud to be able to walk up to school on her own. She did not have any brothers and sisters, even though her parents tried to have more children. But she did not care, she was happy. She had the most wonderful friend, Sophie.

    Sophie was eight too. She lived in their chimney; that is what Sophie said. She had seen Sophie lots of times, mostly after the lights were turned out. Sophie always wore a school dress. She told Lizzie she went to the same school as Lizzie did. But Lizzie had never seen Sophie at school, and Sophie’s uniform did not look like hers; it looked oldish, longer and sort of quaint, like the clothes you saw in photos taken before the war.

    The only trouble was that nobody else believed that Sophie was real. Lizzie had told her Mum and Dad about Sophie. While they listened politely she knew they did not believe her. Later she had heard her Mum call her Lizzie’s imaginary friend.

    But Sophie was real; really real. They told stories together for hours and Sophie knew things that only real people could possibly know. She had told Lizzie of a special place in the school yard where she, with her own friend Matty, hid a jar with coloured stones and carved wood toys. Lizzie had found it, just where Sophie had said it would be. Now Sophie said Lizzie could keep these things, they were hers. Lizzie was delighted even though they looked a bit old fashioned too. She hid them in her bottom drawer; she did not want other people to see them and laugh.

    Yesterday Lizzie had done a job for Sophie, an important job. Sophie’s own Mum, Maria, was old and sick. She was missing Sophie, and Sophie’s Dad, Jimmy, who was now staying with Sophie. Sophie told Lizzie this. Then she said she wanted her Mum to know that she and her Dad were together again and happy, and they could not wait until her Mum came to see them too. Then they would all be happy together. So Sophie had asked Lizzie to go and tell Maria this.