Set in WA in the 1960's this story covers a part of Australian history that we may like to forget. Sandy has moved to Wa with her family because her dad a policeman has been tranferred . She is having trouble fitting in until she meets Billy a part Aboriginal and a mechanic. However her sisterbecomes her rival. Set around a time of change Aboriginal discrimination, feminism, Women's rights, the pill, mini-skirts, Anti Vietnam protests etc. Fits in well as another read To kill a Mockingbird.

It is January 1966 and Sandy is going on fourteen when her family moves to a dry, wheat belt West Australian country town from Perth, during a dusty summer. Laurence (12) and Marianne (17) are her siblings. It is a time of change in Australia society – ‘the swinging sixties’ are about to challenge many of the social conventions documented in this story - feminism, black power, anti Vietnam demonstrations, the pill and mini-skirts are just over the horizon. Towards the end of the novel the Commonwealth Referendum of 1967 is passed, which ends constitutional discrimination against Aboriginal people who have been since then, counted in the national census. This adds to the poignancy of the story.

Bye, Beautiful is a rich, emotional novel that captures in detail, a recent time in Australia’s history that nevertheless seems like a foreign country. It is an impeccable evocation of an Australia that deserves to stay in the past.