'The grave's a fine and private place
But none I think do there embrace'
from 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell
This is a sometimes funny, sometimes intensely moving but never sentimental account of a working-class upbringing on the wrong side of the racks in St Kilda. The book ranges across many of Brian Matthews' deepest passions and explores relentlessly some of his most insistent memories through the extraordinary prism of wartime and post-war St Kilda.
'A Fine And Private Place' uses at its core the themes of graves, deaths and disappearances, families, relationships between fathers and sons; but throughout the memoir is the recurring theme of living for the moment, working-class joys, the frustrations of putting all your hopes on your football team. At times heartbreakingly sad, at other times wonderfully witty, this book is one of the most rewarding memoirs of recent years.
