Man alone / John Mulgan ; edited by Peter Whiteford.

Novel.

"The original text"--Cover.

"Recently demobilized, Johnson comes to New Zealand shortly after WWI. He travels the country taking casual jobs and making casual friends, according to his 'system [of] hard work for the good time and never stay anywhere long'. The good times disappear when the impact of the Depression is felt; casual work is replaced by the tedium of labour gangs. Johnson becomes embroiled in a riot in Auckland and escapes to an isolated farm where he endures grinding poverty and relentless toil in the company of the morose Stenning and his wife Rua. An affair with Rua leads to a struggle between Johnson and Stenning in which the latter is shot. Johnson escapes again, this time into the rugged Kaimanawas - an ordeal he barely survives. Eventually he is helped to escape the country and returns to England before going to Spain with the International Brigade"--Back cover.