Ruth Park Books in Order

Ruth Park is a celebrated New Zealand-born author, now resident in Australia, whose remarkable life and writing career have left an indelible mark on the literary world. Born in Auckland, she spent her early years in isolated areas of the North Island, where her working-class father struggled to make ends meet during the Great Depression. Park's formative experiences, including her time on a Coromandel farming estate, instilled in her a strong sense of resilience and social justice. After winning a partial scholarship to secondary school, she went on to work at the Auckland Star before moving to Australia in 1942, where she married Australian writer D'Arcy Niland. Her debut novel, The Harp in the South (1948), an unflinching portrayal of Irish slum life in Sydney, was a groundbreaking success, translated into 10 languages. Park went on to write numerous novels, including Poor Man's Orange (1949), Missus (1985), and many other critically acclaimed works, as well as scripts for film, television, and a long-running children's radio show, cementing her status as a beloved and respected Australian author.