AustLit

Julia Green, adopted by the Conrads at the age of nine, grows up in their home as an elder daughter. She becomes a nurse and, from student days, has secretly worshipped Robert Paul, a noted Eye Surgeon. Mary Conrad, lovable, impulsive and selfish is Julia's junior by six years and has always been dearly loved and watched over as a younger sister by the older girl. How the same self-willed Mary almost succeeds in wrecking Julia's life in order to screen both herself and her illegitimate child, and how Julia, after passing through her Gethsemane, eventually finds happiness is told, with superb characterisation in this brilliant novel. (Publisher's blurb, Digger Tourists)

Author's note: There is an old story which says that April Fool's Day first originated on the first Holy Thursday night, when Jesus was sent from one to another, clad in a fool's garments.