The story of a Sydney girl, born after World War 1 into a family of four much older siblings, motherless at seven, estranged from her father and most of her extended family from the age of twelve, destined to leave school at fourteen to work in a factory, who fell on love on a blind date at the age of eighteen, on the eve of his going to Canterbury Race Course for the first training camp for his army Call-up. "It was New Year's Eve 1941 and there was to be a party at one of our friend's home. I felt really carefree and happy. In a few hours it would be 1942 and I would be 18. Most of the young people I knew were there, all of us wanting to be happy and enjoy ourselves. Big changes to our lives were only days away and probably most of the boys would be in uniform within a few months."Iris interweaves the everyday of Sydney life of a child, teen and young woman during these times of the Great Depression and World War 2 with the devastation afflicting the world, the juxtaposition of one highlighting the other. Iris paints the pictures of herself and Ivan caught in the whirlpool of history, with amazing effect. "He sent word to be at Central Railway. There was a huge crowd of relatives waiting, the train arrived, the troops alighted but were marshalled at the far end of the platform. I decided I'd go down the parallel platform opposite the soldiers to try to find out something. I called out his mates' names, they told me to go home. By the time I got back to the Milner family, the troops were marching down the platform, all the waiting people could do was touch hands with their men as they went through to board the troop train to Brisbane."Despite her early losses, attempted sexual assaults, workplace bullying, religious and class bigotry, she retained a sense of self worth and self belief, lessons worthy of learning.