Description
Social mobility is not a train you get to board after you’ve scraped together enough for the ticket. You have to build the whole bloody engine, with nothing but a spoon and hand-me-down psychological distress.
Violence, treachery and cruelty run through the generational veins of Rick Morton’s family. A horrific accident thrusts his mother and siblings into a world impossible for them to navigate, a life of poverty and drug addiction
One Hundred Years of Dirt is an unflinching memoir in which the mother is a hero who is never rewarded. It is a meditation on the anger, fear of others and an obsession with real and imagined borders. Yet it is also a testimony to the strength of familial love and endurance.
“I think it’s terrific and I was very moved by it. ”
TIM WINTON
“One Hundred Years of Dirt had me spellbound from the get-go. Morton is a crack storyteller and his words and stories are infused with genuine compassion. It’s a magnificent book, the clarity of it is inspiring.”
CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS
“Morton writes beautifully about the long-term consequences of violence and impoverishment”
JEFF SPARROW, MEANJIN