Fowler, Helen and Bernard Harris. The Careless People (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1954) 210 p.

Esther Southey is head librarian in Sloan's Bookshop. The library is in the back of the shop.

It was a quiet place where people talked gently, and the main part of the shop beyond the library confines, where many people walked and talked and moved, was like a wide ocean whose crashing waves did not enter this quiet bay, this peaceful harbor. (p. 104).

Esther started working there when her husband was away during the war but she stayed when she met Martin Sloan the youngest partner.