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INDEX: Heartache & Birdsong + A Theatre for Dreamers + Cold War Cookbook + The Umbrian Supper Club
BOOK REVIEW
Play it again, Sam
Alan Davidson
THE heart-warming Australian story, Penguin Bloom, is the miraculous tale of a baby magpie that helped save a young mother and her family. It is a homegrown international bestseller soon to be a major Hollywood movie, starring Naomi Watts, Jackie Weaver and Andrew Lincoln. Sam's personal message at the end of that book resonated powerfully with readers where, pulling no punches, she writes about what it is really like to face life in a wheelchair.
In Sam Bloom: Heartache and Birdsong, Sam tells her own story for the first time. How a shy but determined Australian girl became a nurse and travelled across Africa. How she fell in love with a like-minded free spirit, raised three boys and they built a life together on Sydney's Northern Beaches. And then, in a single horrific moment, how everything changed. Sam's journey back from the edge of death and the depths of despair is so much more than an account of overcoming adversity.
In Sam Bloom: Heartache and Birdsong, Sam tells her own story for the first time. How a shy but determined Australian girl became a nurse and travelled across Africa. How she fell in love with a like-minded free spirit, raised three boys and they built a life together on Sydney's Northern Beaches. And then, in a single horrific moment, how everything changed. Sam's journey back from the edge of death and the depths of despair is so much more than an account of overcoming adversity.
Sam's captivating true story, written by close friend, New York Times bestselling author Bradley Trevor Greive, and featuring extraordinary photographs taken by Sam's husband, Cameron Bloom, is humbling, heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure. A triumph of raw emotion and incredible beauty.
This is a heavy book (!) weighing in at nearly a kilogram,. But it’s worth it as the heavyweight paper is used to perfection with a book full of magnificent photos. A must read and, also, a great gift.
This is a heavy book (!) weighing in at nearly a kilogram,. But it’s worth it as the heavyweight paper is used to perfection with a book full of magnificent photos. A must read and, also, a great gift.
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Sam Bloom is a surfer, adventure traveller, neurosurgical nurse and mother of three boys. She was paralysed in an accident in Thailand in 2013. She has since won two Oceania KL1 paracanoe championships, and is the Australian and World Adaptive surfing champion. She works with numerous spinal cord injury charities around the world and is a highly sought-after public speaker.
Cameron Bloom began his career as a surf photographer at the age of 15. Since then his editorial and travel images have featured in numerous international publications including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times. Cam is also the award-winning cinematographer of Surrender and is a BBC Earth Ambassador. Bradley Trevor Greive AM was born in Tasmania and became a global publishing sensation after the release of The Blue Day Book in 2000. The former paratrooper has since sold more than 30 million books in 115 countries. BTG is also a television presenter for wildlife programs on Animal Planet and Netflix, and leads frontline conservation efforts on every continent. In 2014 he was awarded the Order of Australia for his service to literature and wildlife conservation and, in 2016, he was formally adopted by the Deisheetaan clan of Alaska’s Native American Tlingit people. BTG lives in America with his wife, Amy, and daughter, Genevieve. |
Sam Bloom: Heartache & Birdsong by Samantha Bloom, Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive
An ABC Book pubished by Harper Collins RRP$32.99
An ABC Book pubished by Harper Collins RRP$32.99
A Theatre for Dreamers
Phil Kafcaloudes
That is a great name for a novel, the smash hit novel for 2020.
The premise of the novel also offers plenty of depth for a writer. It is set in an artists’ colony that developed on the Greek island Hydra in 1960. This informal colony was based around two Australian writers, the husband and wife Charmian Clift (Peel Me a Lotus) and George Johnston (My Brother Jack) who had been living on the island for some time, trying to find some kind of nirvana.
They were joined by European writers and artists, and also the then-unknown Leonard Cohen. Despite this meeting of artistic minds, all was not happy in the little group, with Charmian increasingly depressed, and reportedly reaching beyond her marriage to find solace.
One account I read said that her flirting with a young actor (who was on the island to shoot a film) so angered the young man’s director that the director warned her off by cruelly saying: “You should realise that you are no longer young and no longer beautiful”. Things were no happier for her husband George and although their three children appeared to be having a joyful time (a friend of mine once met them on a Hydra beach appearing to be relishing life), they did not grow into old age. Neither did their parents: Charmian suicided in Sydney only a few years later, and Johnston died soon after from a lung disease.
But in 1960 these artists mixed and gained succour from each other, as other artists did around the same time in Greenwich Village, Soho, Montmartre and Heidelberg in Melbourne.
Into this scenario author Polly Samson novelises Clift, Johnston and Cohen into a story involving a fictitious 18 year old girl, Erica, who comes to the island and interacts with the group. It is fiction. The novelist has Clift and Johnston doing things they never did in aid of weaving a coming-of-age story that is also a social commentary about how the times were changing as younger people started to seek liberty from post-war austerities that were as much attitudinal as physical. Hydra presents a world where people were seeking freedom and joy after a joyless 1950s.
My question is (and this was a theme of my PhD), was this novelisation the right thing to do? Historical fiction generally places invented people into historical scenarios, as Tolstoy did in War and Peace. Others include real characters as side players, while some go and invent the actions of major players (I would include here the TV series The Crown, which makes up the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip including inventing dialogue, arguments, emotions and motivations).
The premise of the novel also offers plenty of depth for a writer. It is set in an artists’ colony that developed on the Greek island Hydra in 1960. This informal colony was based around two Australian writers, the husband and wife Charmian Clift (Peel Me a Lotus) and George Johnston (My Brother Jack) who had been living on the island for some time, trying to find some kind of nirvana.
They were joined by European writers and artists, and also the then-unknown Leonard Cohen. Despite this meeting of artistic minds, all was not happy in the little group, with Charmian increasingly depressed, and reportedly reaching beyond her marriage to find solace.
One account I read said that her flirting with a young actor (who was on the island to shoot a film) so angered the young man’s director that the director warned her off by cruelly saying: “You should realise that you are no longer young and no longer beautiful”. Things were no happier for her husband George and although their three children appeared to be having a joyful time (a friend of mine once met them on a Hydra beach appearing to be relishing life), they did not grow into old age. Neither did their parents: Charmian suicided in Sydney only a few years later, and Johnston died soon after from a lung disease.
But in 1960 these artists mixed and gained succour from each other, as other artists did around the same time in Greenwich Village, Soho, Montmartre and Heidelberg in Melbourne.
Into this scenario author Polly Samson novelises Clift, Johnston and Cohen into a story involving a fictitious 18 year old girl, Erica, who comes to the island and interacts with the group. It is fiction. The novelist has Clift and Johnston doing things they never did in aid of weaving a coming-of-age story that is also a social commentary about how the times were changing as younger people started to seek liberty from post-war austerities that were as much attitudinal as physical. Hydra presents a world where people were seeking freedom and joy after a joyless 1950s.
My question is (and this was a theme of my PhD), was this novelisation the right thing to do? Historical fiction generally places invented people into historical scenarios, as Tolstoy did in War and Peace. Others include real characters as side players, while some go and invent the actions of major players (I would include here the TV series The Crown, which makes up the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip including inventing dialogue, arguments, emotions and motivations).
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But in A Theatre for Dreamers it could be argued that Polly Samson has gone even further, turning Clift, Johnston and Cohen into her own literary puppets.
As I argue in my thesis, so long as the author makes it clear that this is fiction ... a novel ... then this is probably just a matter of judgment for the reader. If Samson was writing about my mother and father then I might find it a little weird. Then again, I wrote a novel about my grandmother, who was a spy in Greece in WWII. I also had her doing things that she probably didn’t do. My family didn’t object to me painting her as a Nazi killing saboteur who dated a German officer to get information. However, like Samson I made it clear that my book was a novel, but that didn’t stop people at writers’ festivals asking me what was true in the novel. When an elderly man told me he was in the same street as my grandmother on the day she was released from prison, I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had invented that scene. This man had believed the scene was true and put himself in it. That’s the risk of doing what I ... and Samson ... have done in our writing. |
Avlaki Beach, Hydra
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A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson. Bloomsbury. $29.99
Coded sauerkraut
Celia Rees
Germany, 1946
A reluctant spy is born…
An ordinary woman. A book of recipes. The perfect cover for spying…
World War II has just ended, and Britain has established the Control Commission for Germany, which oversees their zone of occupation. The Control Commission hires British civilians to work in Germany, rebuild the shattered nation and prosecute war crimes. Somewhat aimless, bored with her job as a provincial schoolteacher, and unwilling to live with her overbearing mother any longer, thirtysomething Edith Graham applies for a job with the Commission - but she is also recruited by her cousin, Leo, who is in the Secret Service. To them, Edith is perfect spy material …single, ordinary-looking, with a college degree in German. Leo went to Oxford with one of their most hunted war criminals, Count Kurt von Stavenow, who Edith remembers all too well from before the war. They have their own history, and Leo wants her to find him.
Intrigued by the challenge, Edith heads to Germany armed with a convincing cover story: she’s an unassuming Education Officer sent to help resurrect German schools. To send information back to her Secret Service handlers in London, Edith has crafted the perfect alter ego, cookbook author Stella Snelling, who writes a popular magazine cookery column.
Secretly, she is sending coding messages back to the UK, hidden inside innocuous recipes sent to a friend – after all, who would expect notes on sauerkraut or Sunday breakfasts to contain the clues that would crack a criminal underground network?
Billett Sunday Breakfast
Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat
Sausages, bacon, fried potatoes
Scambled eggs
Toast & Jam
Tea
But occupied Germany is awash with other spies, collaborators, and opportunists, and as she’s pulled into their world, Edith soon discovers that no one is what they seem to be. And the closer she gets to the truth, the muddier the line becomes between good and evil. In a dangerous world of shifting loyalties, when the enemy wears the face of a friend, who do you trust?
This is a striking historical novel about an ordinary young British woman sent to uncover a network of spies and war criminals in post-war Germany that will appeal to fans of The Huntress and Transcription. Celia Rees is a fantastic storyteller and wonderful writer – this really shines. All the characters are compelling, but especially resourceful, likable Edith.
Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook is a standout in an already strong sub-genre of historical fiction. With a unique, compelling premise, it is a beautifully crafted novel about daring, betrayal, and female friendship. From its gorgeous front cover, to the gripping final pages, this wonderful novel will have you. hooked.
A reluctant spy is born…
An ordinary woman. A book of recipes. The perfect cover for spying…
World War II has just ended, and Britain has established the Control Commission for Germany, which oversees their zone of occupation. The Control Commission hires British civilians to work in Germany, rebuild the shattered nation and prosecute war crimes. Somewhat aimless, bored with her job as a provincial schoolteacher, and unwilling to live with her overbearing mother any longer, thirtysomething Edith Graham applies for a job with the Commission - but she is also recruited by her cousin, Leo, who is in the Secret Service. To them, Edith is perfect spy material …single, ordinary-looking, with a college degree in German. Leo went to Oxford with one of their most hunted war criminals, Count Kurt von Stavenow, who Edith remembers all too well from before the war. They have their own history, and Leo wants her to find him.
Intrigued by the challenge, Edith heads to Germany armed with a convincing cover story: she’s an unassuming Education Officer sent to help resurrect German schools. To send information back to her Secret Service handlers in London, Edith has crafted the perfect alter ego, cookbook author Stella Snelling, who writes a popular magazine cookery column.
Secretly, she is sending coding messages back to the UK, hidden inside innocuous recipes sent to a friend – after all, who would expect notes on sauerkraut or Sunday breakfasts to contain the clues that would crack a criminal underground network?
Billett Sunday Breakfast
Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat
Sausages, bacon, fried potatoes
Scambled eggs
Toast & Jam
Tea
But occupied Germany is awash with other spies, collaborators, and opportunists, and as she’s pulled into their world, Edith soon discovers that no one is what they seem to be. And the closer she gets to the truth, the muddier the line becomes between good and evil. In a dangerous world of shifting loyalties, when the enemy wears the face of a friend, who do you trust?
This is a striking historical novel about an ordinary young British woman sent to uncover a network of spies and war criminals in post-war Germany that will appeal to fans of The Huntress and Transcription. Celia Rees is a fantastic storyteller and wonderful writer – this really shines. All the characters are compelling, but especially resourceful, likable Edith.
Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook is a standout in an already strong sub-genre of historical fiction. With a unique, compelling premise, it is a beautifully crafted novel about daring, betrayal, and female friendship. From its gorgeous front cover, to the gripping final pages, this wonderful novel will have you. hooked.
Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook
by Celia Rees. HarperCollins. $29.99 (PB)
Reproduced with kind permission of Better Reading magazine
by Celia Rees. HarperCollins. $29.99 (PB)
Reproduced with kind permission of Better Reading magazine
Delicious
Di Morrissey
Di Morrissey
THIS is a delicious “word of mouth” book!
I was told about it in mouth watering detail from my friend Joan who is a super cook.
… “new wine, new oil, all those chestnuts, fat porcini smelling of loam and the ages, figs dripping honey, the leaves on the vines yellow as saffron…”
This is the story of a small group of Umbrian women who gather each week in an old stone house in the hills above Orvieto to cook, eat and drink. And equally important, to talk and laugh.
During these meals the women share memories and stories of their lives and families and these form the fundamental truths of this delightful book.
Woven through their stories are the rudimentary recipes written as you tell a good friend how you made a particular dish ... ingredients tossed together like the laughter and love of old friends.
So it’s not a traditional cook book ... but you want to rush to make some of the homely wonderful dishes they shared at the supper club.
Marlena has written cookbooks, is a journalist, author and chef. She and her husband Fernando moved from Venice, then Tuscany and now live in Orvieto in the Umbrian hills of Italy.
The Umbrian Supper Club takes you there, and takes you back to memories of meals and family…as only cooking and sharing food can.
t’s earthy, real, and simply delectable.
I was told about it in mouth watering detail from my friend Joan who is a super cook.
… “new wine, new oil, all those chestnuts, fat porcini smelling of loam and the ages, figs dripping honey, the leaves on the vines yellow as saffron…”
This is the story of a small group of Umbrian women who gather each week in an old stone house in the hills above Orvieto to cook, eat and drink. And equally important, to talk and laugh.
During these meals the women share memories and stories of their lives and families and these form the fundamental truths of this delightful book.
Woven through their stories are the rudimentary recipes written as you tell a good friend how you made a particular dish ... ingredients tossed together like the laughter and love of old friends.
So it’s not a traditional cook book ... but you want to rush to make some of the homely wonderful dishes they shared at the supper club.
Marlena has written cookbooks, is a journalist, author and chef. She and her husband Fernando moved from Venice, then Tuscany and now live in Orvieto in the Umbrian hills of Italy.
The Umbrian Supper Club takes you there, and takes you back to memories of meals and family…as only cooking and sharing food can.
t’s earthy, real, and simply delectable.
The Umbrian Supper Club: Marlena de Blasi, Allen & Unwin. $24.99 RRP
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DI MORRISSEY AM is one of the most successful and prolific authors Australia has ever produced publishing 28 bestselling novels.
She trained as a journalist, working in newspapers, magazines, television, film, theatre and advertising around the world. Her fascination with different countries, their cultural, political and environmental issues, has been the catalyst for her novels, which are all inspired by a particular landscape. Di is a tireless and passionate advocate and activist for many causes. She is an avid supporter of Greenpeace, speaking out on issues of national and international importance. She established The Golden Land Education Foundation in Myanmar (Burma), and is an Ambassador for Australia’s Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. Di also publishes and edits a free community newspaper, The Manning Community News. In 2017, in recognition of her achievements, Di was inducted into the Australian Book Industry Awards Hall of Fame with the prestigious Lloyd O’Neil Award. In 2019, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia. Her next book is Before the Storm to be published in October. To find out more, visit www.dimorrissey.com and www.facebook/DiMorrissey. You can follow Di at @di_morrissey on Twitter and @dimorrisseyauthor on Instagram. |
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