Jimmy is a kid growing up fast on the poorest street in small town rural Australia. He tries to do everything right and look out for his alcoholic mum and his disabled younger brother. His older brother is in jail, so it’s up to Jimmy to hold things together. And small-town life is unforgiving if you’re from the other side of the tracks: But Jimmy soon learns that even when you get things right, everything can still go wrong.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Mark Brandi about his memories of the 1980s that form the setting of his book, why growing up in a small country town has both pleasures and perils, and how a now extinct interstate train journey can carry hopes and dreams in both directions.