Perth, 1954: Thirteen-year-old Frank, a refugee from wartime Hungary, is learning to walk again after contracting polio. At The Golden Age Children's Convalescent Home he meets Elsa and the two patients form a forbidden, passionate bond. The Golden Age becomes the little world that reflects the larger one, where everything occurs: love, desire, music, death and poetry. Subtle, moving and remarkably lovely, The Golden Age evokes a yearning for deep connection, from one of Australia's finest and most-loved novelists.