“Isa’s father is working on the construction of the Great Ocean Road and has not been in contact with his family for some time. Isa’s mother works hard as a cleaner, struggling with ill health and providing for her four children. Even though only 12 years old, Isa is already an accomplished seamstress and takes in mending and sewing work to help support her family. Her 10-year-old brother Johnno has a paper run and collects and sells bottles and 5-year-old Rosie is in charge of collecting eggs from their chickens to sell at the local store. The whole family, but particularly Isa, take care of 3-year-old Billy. The Wyatts are a close family, obviously bound together by great affection for each other and also by their struggles to provide enough food and adequate shelter. Isa is close to her father and misses his presence at home. She is very aware of appearances and the difference between the classes as her family endures the deprivations of the time. The family struggles along until Isa’s mother becomes ill and must be hospitalised. She is discovered to have tuberculosis and must be sent to a hospital facility in the Blue Mountains for six months to aid her recovery. The authorities wish to separate the children and send them to orphanages, but Isa makes up a story about an Auntie Kate and convinces the child services official to allow her to take her younger siblings to her aunt’s house instead.”

http://australian-literature.suite101.com/article.cfm/review_of_the_long_walk

 This gives a summary of the book but what do you think were the most important themes of this story?