Physical description

Hard cover book. Explorers of the Dawn
Author: Mazo de la Roche
Publisher: Cassell & Co
Date: 1922-1924
Further Information: Blue Cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.

Publication type

fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on the spine with typed text R.H. 823 ROC
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Warrnambool Public Library

Summary

This work is a collection of ten related episodes, unified by tone, setting, character and theme, that can be read as a single story. The main character is an adult, John Curzon, who narrates the adventures of himself and his two brothers as small boys. The brothers are David (‘Angel’) and Alexander (‘The Seraph’). After their mother dies and their father leaves for South America to build a railway, the boys are placed with their father’s former governess, Mrs Handsomebody, in a grey cathedral town.
The episodes include a midnight treasure hunt with a retired ‘pirate’ neighbour, Captain Pegg, a first childhood love, a secret expedition to watch the dawn, and the adoption of a stray terrier. The central tension is between the boys’ imagination and instinct and their governess’s repressive, respectable rule. Kindly older figures, such as the Irish maid and a bishop, side with the boys. The book also touches on grief, old age, poverty and death.