Chapter I Summary

Cloudstreet, by Tim Winton, is the story of two poor families who share a large, decrepit house in Perth, Western Australia, throughout two decades starting in the World War II years. In a ground-floor room of the house, one of the families opens a grocery that becomes a focal point of the neighborhood. The story of the two families' struggles with poverty, gambling, alcoholism, infidelity, and tragedy is sad but also uplifted by humor, moments of hope, loyalty, and love. With the publication in 1991 of this vibrant and big-hearted novel, laced with awe and ghostly mysteries, Australian author Tim Winton solidified his position among that country's leading novelists.

A short section prior to Chapter 1 describes a group of people having a noisy, happy picnic by a river. An unnamed man leaves the group and joyfully runs to the jetty, where he...