Here it is ready for the baptismal font a baby in the making for two whole captivating years of undying devotion and mind-numbing frustration. Of chasing crumbs of knowledge through wooded glens and falling down rabbit holes in search of shimmering nuggets to fill empty space and startle the defiant blinking cursor. Now the pages [...]
As March 1st is publication day for The Last Station., I thought I'd share why I wanted to write it. When it comes to deciding on the subject matter for a historical novel some of the questions I ask myself include; is it a fascinating period in Australian history and if so are the actual [...]
If you missed Nicole's virtual launch please head to her facebook page the post has been saved!
Coffee-break Quick-Pick: The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton. Jaxie dreads going home. His mother's dead, the old man beats him without mercy, and he doesn't know how much more he can take. Then, in one terrible moment of violence, the life he's known ends - forcing Jaxie to flee his sleepy hometown. He's not just [...]
My Brother Jack. If ever there was a portrait of the changing and fragile relationships in family and particularly between brother’s then this work stands out as one of the best. Set in the suburbs of Melbourne between the two wars George Johnston’s 1964 novel shines a light on the interwar years, introducing us to [...]
Where does a story come from? Each of us has own own personal story. A series of moments made up of triumph and tragedy. If we look back at our lives we can link each step together and sometimes we can understand how we got to where we are today. Sure some of it is [...]
In August 1900 during the Boer War in South Africa, Colonel Charles Hore commander at the Elands River Post received a request from Boer(Dutch-Afrikaner) general Jacobs Koos de la Rey to surrender. His reply: “Even if I wished to surrender, and I don’t, I am commanding Australians who would cut my throat if I accepted [...]
I often find myself having discussions about food security. The availability and access to food is something taken for granted by many. We go to the supermarket or butcher and purchase our groceries with little thought that one day an item may not be available; that is until we reach for say the banana’s or [...]
In Stephen Orrs The Hands: A Pastoral, a cattle property in the middle of the desert has been in the family for generations. But life on the farm has been hard for a long time. The drought is decimating the cattle herd and the stress of living and working on a property that it is [...]
Is this a tasty gothic read... a psychological thriller or simply a story about a weak woman enthralled to sex and money. The Engagement by Chloe Hooper is the story of Liese Campbell who spends a weekend with Alexander Colquhoun, the well-mannered heir of a pastoral dynasty, at his property in western Victoria. Liese, an [...]
