Grace describes the social makeup, life and customs in Newtown. When “one of the neighbourhood children took very ill … on the lamp post they would have flags at the top of the street and down the bottom of the street, to denote that there was a child dying there and if possible not to take the horse and carts or the buggies down the street”. There is a chilling account of Mrs Hunter, the local backyard abortionist. She also discusses racism and sectarianism: “It was well-known that you couldn’t get a job in Brennan’s if you weren’t Catholic … You had to be Catholic to work at Mark Foy’s too…”