Charlie Feehan

Charlie is the novel’s central character, its protagonist and narrator. As the story begins, Charlie is 16 years old, and living with his mother and baby brother in a poverty-filled section of the Australian city of Melbourne. The year is 1919, which is significant because that was the year in which the Spanish Flu pandemic killed millions of people around the world. The novel takes this historical fact and identifies the disease as the cause of the recent death of Charlie’s father.

The death of his father marks a turning point in Charlie’s life, one that sets him on the journey recounted in the narrative. From its beginnings, Charlie is portrayed as being very aware of the responsibilities he has in the aftermath of his father’s death. That sense of responsibility leads him into making choices that he believes will benefit his family, even if...