Bryce Courtenay

During the Great Depression there was little hope for a boy born into the slums of Cabbagetown, Toronto. But Jack Spayd is offered a ticket out in the form of a Hohner harmonica, won by his brutal drunken father in a late-night card game. Jack makes music as a way of escaping his surroundings, and his talent leads him to a jazz club and, eventually, to the jazz piano.
Jack is a virtuoso and hits the road, enchanting audiences in Canada, wartime...

A young English boy, orphaned in a foreign land and terrorized for his political belief, turns to boxing. As he grows up fighting with his fists and leading with his heart, he takes on the system and the social injustices around him--finding that one person really can make a difference.

Sam Neill stars a down-on-his luck boozing lawyer who agrees to represent a young woman sent to a mental asylum by her rotten family under false pretenses.