It's the 1960s, in Melbourne, Australia. You are in Grade One at a large Catholic primary school, and you are the only one who is deaf. Deafness is subtle, especially when you can speak like anyone else, but you can't hide it. The cord of your new hearing aid loops out of the collar of your school shirt, and tells the world you're deaf, whether you want them to know or not. This is what faces Mike. What makes his story of schooldays and adolescence more unusual is his family. He is one of five children, of whom four are inexplicably born deaf to hearing parents. With almost no support, the...