11 Ruby Road 1925 by Charlotte Barkla

Title: 11 Ruby Road 1925

Author: Charlotte Barkla

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Walker Books Australia

Published: 4^th September 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 176

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: The second book in the 11 Ruby Road series set in the roaring 1920s – perfect period fiction for middle-grade readers and for fans of the Our Australian Girl series.

It is 1925 and Bert Mueller and his German-Australian family have moved from Ipswich to their new house at 11 Ruby Road. Bert’s father has been deported to Germany after the Great War, and with Dad still absent, Bert is unsure about moving away. But the city means opportunity and jobs for his mother and older siblings. And for the grown-ups , it also means fun – dressing up, going out, and all that jazz. Bert loves jazz too, but he’s too young for the clubs, and instead his time is spent at his new school where the kids play cricket, not music.

But with the help of a Gramophone, Bert has a solution. He will start his own jazz club, and 11 Ruby Road has the perfect spot to host it. But as prejudice about Bert and his German family start to affect their new life, Bert has to find a way to save his jazz club and his family.

~*~

It’s been twenty-five years since we meet Dorothy and her family in Ruby Road at the start of the twentieth century. Since then, women have got the vote, the Titanic has sunk, and the world has been devastated by The Great War and the Spanish Flu. Bert Mueller – now Miller – and his German-Australian family have moved to Ruby Road. All except his father, who has been deported to Germany in the wake of the war. Bert is unsure about moving without dad – even if Brisbane means better opportunities and jobs for Mum, Carl, who has a bad leg and still has to support the family, and big sister Hildegard who is almost ready to step into the workforce. Ruby Road seems like a brilliant new start – fun in jazz clubs, dressing up and going out – but only for the adults.

So, jazz-loving Bert decides to set up a jazz club – only for under elevens! He’s got a gramophone, and Carl and Hildegard help him set it up, and the kids at school think it is an awesome idea – apart from one boy. Things are looking up, until the community learns about the family’s heritage – and some people start to turn on them. At school, Bert faces bullying and discrimination from Alexander.

As these attitudes begin to affect Bert and his family, he is determined to find a way to save his jazz club, his family, and to bring the community together – a community that is more diverse than appears, filled with people who have heritage from across the world, whose families have escaped things, who faced bad things in the countries they originally came from, and who are now Australian – just as Bert and his family are. It touches on the different ways discrimination can touch everyone – the way assumptions can harm everyone and drive wedges within a community. Ruby Road, Brisbane, Australia and the world are still healing from the wounds of the Great War – and the misunderstandings are still rife, still prevalent as accusations are tossed around willy nilly to try and drive the Millers out of town, and to destroy their business.

Yet, there is hope in this book. Because the children at school, and Bert’s teacher, Miss Armstrong, who also has a link to Dorothy from the first book want to accept Bert and include him. They’re more tolerant than others for the most part, and they’re keen to be part of his jazz club. But prejudices could ruin things, and there did seem to be a lingering question about the type of people we accept in our communities throughout this book ad why. Why did it come across as okay for the others to be who they were, or to say they were Australian, even if they had immigrant parents, but not for Bert? Post-war prejudice is evident throughout, because the wounds of war are still real, still felt by people immediately affected.

We’re also privy to the undercurrents of racism against Indigenous people, particularly in the aftermath of the war. The range of discriminatory and racist attitudes that permeate the 1920s society of Australia, and in some ways, still do today. The stories of 11 Ruby Road reflect discrimination and racism throughout history, against a different character and by extension, that group of people across the series, highlighting the changes we have seen in our world and society, and how far we have come, yet also how far we have to go in some ways. I  doing so through the time capsule of 11 Ruby Road, Charlotte Barkla is examining the history of wider Australian society through the lens of those impacted by the prejudices – of all kinds – faced by people in an accessible way for middle grade and older readers. And she highlights that these impacts were felt by people of all ages, examining why things were the way they were whilst showing how unacceptable they were, and how they still are – that they always have been. 11 Ruby Road showcases the diversity of Australia throughout the years and brings together everyone that has helped create or contribute to the multicultural nation of Australia over the years.

Another great book from Charlotte Barkla.