Coming Through, a novel based on factual events, explores elements of the alternative sub-culture in Australia in the period between 1959 and 1980. Dual protagonists, Anna Martin and Jack Rose, personify aspects of the movement that would later be known as 'psychedelic romanticism.' The narrative follows Jack Rose's disenchantment with the prevailing social system and his efforts to achieve personal integration and his conflict with societal pressures to conform. Likewise, in a parallel narrative, it describes the events that surround Anna Martin's early institutionalisation and her attempt to achieve personal authenticity. When the protagonists finally encounter one another they find that a common and binding philosophy has drawn them together. The thesis looks at the prevailing social notions of'normality' at the time and the problems associated with alienation and the struggle to found alternative life styles in a society they deem to be repressive.