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Reviews 2012

The Harp in the south by Ruth Park
Bolinda Audio Book Read by Katie Hood
An intensely moving family classic of love and loss and laughter at the very core of Australian popular writing.
“For all its faults this family is bound together by a powerful love…and while they live in one of the roughest parts of Sydney, and there is drunkenness and violence, theirs is a community which will offer friendship and compassion when it’s needed.” – Lisa Hill, ANZ LitLovers
An Australian classic, this is the story of the Darcy family who live in the Depression era tenements of Surry Hills, Sydney. Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops and run-down boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy. Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail and great heart.

Preemie : Lessons in Love, life and Motherhood by  Kasey Mathews
Adult Non Fiction 618.92011MAT
In her early thirties, Kasey Mathews had it all: a loving husband, a beautiful two-year-old son, and a second baby on the way. But what seemed a perfect life was shattered when she went into labor four months early, delivering her one-pound, eleven-ounce daughter, Andie. The first time Kasey was wheeled into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), nothing prepared her for what she saw: a tiny, fragile baby in a tangle of tubes and wires. All at once, Kasey was confronted with a new and terrifying reality that would test the limits of love, family, and motherhood. In this riveting, honest, and often humorous memoir, Preemie chronicles the journey of one tiny baby’s tenacious struggle to hold on to life and the mother who ultimately grew with her. From hospital waiting rooms to the offices of alternative practitioners, from ski slopes to Symphony Hall, Kasey tries to make meaning of her daughter’s birth and eventually comes to learn that gifts come in all sizes and all forms, and sometimes… right on time.

 Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard  by Pam Penick
Adult Non Fiction 712 PEN
A colorful guide covering the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, drought-tolerant, money-saving options that will appeal to today’s busy, eco-conscious homeowner.
Lawn Gone! is an essential guide to low-water, easy-care lawn alternatives for beginning gardeners and anyone concerned about the environmental costs of maintaining a lawn. Filled with how-to information, design ideas, and inspirational photographs, it covers all the available options: alternative lawns, ornamental grasses, groundcovering plants, small shrubs and perennials, artificial turf, “people places” like patios and paths, and more. In addition, it includes step-by-step lawn-removal methods, strategies for dealing with HOAs and lawn-loving neighbors, and practical ways to reduce your lawn if you’re not ready to go all the way. Written by Austin garden designer and award-winning blogger Pam Penick, Lawn Gone! will show you how easy it is to ditch the lawn and create an enjoyable, earth-friendly landscape for your home

Plugged by Eion Colfer
AudioBook ,complete and Unabridged
In the tradition of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Plugged tells the story of Daniel McEvoy, an Irish bouncer at a seedy New Jersey club. Daniel has a problem. Well, he has several, but the worst is that the girl he loves was just murdered. Then more people around him start dying–and not of natural causes. Suddenly Daniel’s got the mob, cops, and an unstable lovesick neighbor after him, and the only clue points towards the crooked doctor who gave him hair implants before vanishing into thin air. Luckily–or perhaps unluckily–he has the help of a volatile detective, a permanently hungover army psychologist, and a mischievous ghost. In Plugged, Colfer, beloved by millions for his Artemis Fowl series, has written a hilarious tour de force thriller of head-spinning plot twists, compulsive in the tradition of Carl Hiaasen’s best work–a “pitch-perfect comic noir” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Complete with the best banter this side of Elmore Leonard’s Detroit, Plugged will leave you shocked, awed, and wanting more. Read by John Cormack.

Six years  By Harlan Coben
Adult Fiction Thriller
Six years have passed since Jake Sanders watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd.
But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for . . . but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for more than a decade, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life—a time he has never gotten over is turned completely inside out.
As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart and who lied to him soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on carefully constructed fiction.
Harlan Coben once again delivers a shocking page-turner that deftly explores the power of past love and the secrets and lies that such love can hide

Keeping hope alive By Dr Hawa Abdi
Biography
The moving memoir of one brave woman who, along with her daughters, has kept 90,000 of her fellow citizens safe, healthy, and educated for over 20 years in Somalia. Dr. Hawa Abdi, “the Mother Teresa of Somalia” and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is the founder of a massive camp for internally displaced people located a few miles from war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia. Since 1991, when the Somali government collapsed, famine struck, and aid groups fled, she has dedicated herself to providing help for people whose lives have been shattered by violence and poverty. She turned her 1300 acres of farmland into a camp that has numbered up to 90,000 displaced people, ignoring the clan lines that have often served to divide the country. She inspired her daughters, Deqo and Amina, to become doctors. Together, they have saved tens of thousands of lives in her hospital, while providing an education to hundreds of displaced children.
In 2010, Dr. Abdi was kidnapped by radical insurgents, who also destroyed much of her hospital, simply because she was a woman. She, along with media pressure, convinced the rebels to let her go, and she demanded and received a written apology. Dr. Abdi’s story of incomprehensible bravery and perseverance will inspire readers everywhere.

The City of Greater Geraldton has proudly acknowledged outstanding efforts by local people who have worked to preserve the region’s heritage.  Recently, the presentation of the annual City of Greater Geraldton Heritage Awards took place at the Geraldton Regional Library.  Awards were presented by Cr. Neil Bennett and Cr. Tarleah Thomas to the following worthy recipients:

City of Greater Geraldton Award for Excellence in Heritage Building Design and Conservation

Winner:  John & Nola Patience, Glengarry Homestead

High Commendation:  Peter Dameon

City of Greater Geraldton Award for Outstanding Heritage Achievement

Winner:  Gary Martin

High Commendation:  George Macdonald

Special Recognition:  Jim Trevaskis

City of Greater Geraldton Heritage Awards 2013

The City of Greater Geraldton has proudly acknowledged outstanding efforts by local people who have worked to preserve the region’s heritage.  Recently, the presentation of the annual City of Greater Geraldton Heritage Awards took place at the Geraldton Regional Library.  Awards were presented by Cr. Neil Bennett and Cr. Tarleah Thomas to the following worthy recipients:

City of Greater Geraldton Award for Excellence in Heritage Building Design and Conservation

Winner:  John & Nola Patience, Glengarry Homestead

High Commendation:  Peter Dameon

City of Greater Geraldton Award for Outstanding Heritage Achievement

Winner:  Gary Martin

High Commendation:  George Macdonald

Special Recognition:  Jim Trevaskis

Cliffy; the Cliff Young story

The Empress by Meg Clothier
Adult Fiction Historical
Constantinople, 1179. Princess Agnes of France is thirteen when she marries the heir to Byzantium, an empire unmatched in wealth, power and glamour. But once she sets foot in the Queen of Cities, a decadent world where dazzling luxury masks unspeakable cruelty, she realizes that her husband is a deluded mother’s boy with mighty enemies and treacherous allies. Welcome to the City. As Emperors rise and fall, Agnes learns to play the City’s game until she falls for a handsome rebel and finds that love is the most perilous game of all.
Glittering parties in marble palaces soon give way to bloody revolution, shipwreck and exile and Agnes discovers there is no limit to what she will do to survive.
A world in flames. But only when crusading knights from her homeland attack the City, does she finally understand what is truly worth fighting for.

The red earth by Kim Kelly
Adult Fiction Australian
It’s November 1939, another war in Europe. And Bernie Cooper is wondering what’s ahead for her. She knows Gordon Brock is going to ask her to marry him any second now. An honest country boy about to graduate from university as a geologist, he’s a good catch by anyone’s standards, too. And she’s going to say no.The harsh realities of this Second World War have other plans for Bernie, though, and once her adored father is commissioned to serve again, she accepts Gordon’s proposal mostly to please her dad. In any event, with Gordon off to New Guinea for the job of a lifetime, she’ll be glad of a temporary reprieve from walking down the aisle, won’t she?
As Gordon braces for the inevitable Japanese invasion of Rabaul, Bernie finds herself in the midst of the battle being fought on home soil against the worst drought in living memory, against the menace of an unseen enemy, and against the unspeakable torment of not knowing if those dear to her are alive or dead.From the beaches of Sydney to the dusty heart of the continent, This Red Earth is as much a love letter to the country, with all its beauty and its terror, as it is an intimate portrait of love itself. Above all, this is a story of the greatest power we each possess hope.

From India: food, family and tradition
By Kumar Mahadevan, Suba Mahadevan
Adult Non Fiction 641.5954MAH
The skilled restauranteurs behind ‘hatted’ restaurants Abhi’s and Aki’s, present traditional and modern Indian recipes alongside the personal story of their arranged marriage, international adventures and their ultimate move to Australia.From the talented chef behind Sydney’s most iconic Indian restaurants, Abhi’s and Aki’s, comes a spicy blend of contemporary food and authentic cooking. Kumar Mahadevan weaves a full array of recipes with the unique tale of his family’s journey from India to Australia. This book offers a full range of traditional curries, contemporary seafood dishes and interesting vegetarian meals. From India is a beautiful, surprising and flavoursome trip from the regional fare.

A Flower between the cracks by Helen Sage
Biography
When Helen’s daughter is involved in a catastrophic car accident, her life and the lives of her family are irrevocably changed. Never has a memoir spoken of the complexity of caring for a disabled loved one with such grace and candour. This is a book for all Australians..
‘An eye-opening, heart-bruising account of what happens after miraculous survival. Sad but never maudlin, hopeful but never trite, this is a gorgeously told true story about tragedy, resilience and life’s surprising moments of poetry and grace’ – Emily Maguire

Toni Jordan is a guest of Geraldton Regional Library at this year’s Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival.

Blood’s Pride

The best of both possible worlds by Karen Lord
Adult Science fiction
A proud and reserved alien society finds its homeland destroyed in an unprovoked act of aggression, and the survivors have no choice but to reach out to the indigenous humanoids of their adopted world, to whom they are distantly related. They wish to preserve their cherished way of life but come to discover that in order to preserve their culture; they may have to change it forever. Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race—and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team—one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive—just may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all.

Goodbye Lullaby by Jan Murray
Adult Fiction Australian
In September 1971, 181 numbered marbles roll around in a barrel while Australia holds its breath. The last number drawn will shatter two women’s lives, and bring them together again… Sixteen year-old Caroline ‘Miki’ Patrick confides to her best friend  the outspoken, smart-mouthed Jude that she’s pregnant. Miki’s parents place her in the iron embrace of St Anthony’s, a home for wayward girls, with the scheming Sister Angela pressuring her to give up her baby. But Jude convinces Miki they can raise the child, and together they make a pact and take to the road. But the teenagers are ill-prepared for the hardships they face, and after one particularly difficult night, fate separates them. Alone, poor and scared for her baby’s welfare, Miki ultimately surrenders Dominic to the home.Two decades later, Miki is a dangerous woman, and she’s on the run. A vocal anti-war activist who assists draft dodgers, Miki is hiding from the Federal Police and never stays in one place very long. That is, until Dominic’s birthday is drawn in the conscription lottery and Jude steps back into her life. Now Miki and Jude will stop at nothing to be reunited with him…

In stockmens footsteps by Jane Grieve
Biography
Jane Grieve was born and raised on a farm on the Darling Downs in Queensland. She grew up with the wind in her hair and the rich, black Darling Downs soil between her barefoot toes, her vivid imagination captivated by the tales of her Colonial forebears and the romantic notion of Australia’s outback. From the outset she was determined that her life was not going to run along conventional lines; and nor did it. While working for architect Bill Durack, brother of legendary Australian personages Mary and Elizabeth Durack, she met R.M. Williams. R.M. exhorted her to work with him, Hugh Sawrey, Mary Durack, Bob Katter Sr., Ranald Chandler, Sir James Walker, and other prominent Australians to build a very special monument. This is the previously untold story of the establishment of one of Australia’s foremost Bicentennial projects – the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre at Longreach in Queensland. Told through the eyes of a person whose role in the inner sanctum was pivotal to its success, it is an extraordinary true story of the legendary people, selfless determination, and sheer hard work involved in the creation of what was intended as a Mecca for all Australians