Paul Dalgarno is a man in the busy throes of life, trying to work out what is important to him and how to find the time to enjoy it. And You May Find Yourself is an hilarious memoir of a man in his first year in Melbourne, having just emigrated from Scotland, in search of a job so that his young family can live. In the interim, they are living in his in-laws’ lounge room. As the second baby is born, they are cramped and poor, and struggling to find a way out of their situation.
In many ways, this book is unique – Paul has had a fascinating life and his relationship with his father, who has never hugged him, and his mother and grandparents – key figures in his upbringing – are clues as to the way in which he wants to bring up his two young sons. But in other ways, this is an everyman’s journey through that decade of the thirties, after the decadence and youth of the twenties and while the responsibilities of a home, a family and a career loom.
As deputy editor of The Conversation, Paul can write, and this book has many moments of laugh-out-loud funny.
