Category Archives: Historical Fiction

November 2021 Author Talks

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City of Parramatta Libraries have teamed up with Public Libraries NSW for the final time this year to end our FREE online author talks with a bang! These are the last three author talks for 2021 that you can attend from the comfort of home and we thank you for attending the talks throughout the year. Recordings of our previous talks can be found here and are certainly deserving of a watch or even a re-watch. I think my favourite might be Judy Nunn, she is such an engaging and enthusiastic speaker.

In case you missed it don’t forget tonight is the author talk with the beloved host of ABC Gardening Australia, Costa Georgiadis, with his new book Costa’s World, he is sure to be an entertaining and enlightening speaker.

David Hunt presents Girt Nation in conversation with Wendy Harmer
Friday 5 November, 1.00pm

Noted historian David Hunt will be in conversation with Wendy Harmer, one of Australia’s much loved personalities, speaking about his latest historical work.
David Hunt tramples the tall poppies of the past in charting Australia’s transformation from aspiration to nation – an epic tale of charlatans and costermongers, of bush bards and bushier bastards, of labourers and ladies who weren’t going to take it anymore.Girt Nation introduces Alfred Deakin, the Liberal necromancer whose dead advisors made Australia a better place to live, and Banjo Paterson, the jihadist who called on God and the Prophet to drive the Australian infidels from the Sudan ‘like sand before the gale’. And meet Catherine Helen Spence, the feminist polymath who envisaged a utopian future of free contraceptives, easy divorce and immigration restrictions to prevent the ‘Chinese coming to destroy all we have struggled for!’
To register book online – https://parra.city/hunt21

Michael Connelly presents The Dark Hours in conversation with Ben Hobson
Friday 19 November, 12.00pm

Best selling author Michael Connelly will be in conversation with Australian author Ben Hobson about his latest Ballard & Bosch thriller The Dark Hours, in one of only two live events that Michael will deliver directly to an Australian audience.
A brazen and methodical killer strikes on New Year’s Eve and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch must join forces to find justice for the victim in a city scarred by fear and social unrest. There’s chaos in Hollywood at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD Detective Renée Ballard waits out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revellers shoot their guns into the air. Only minutes after midnight, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party. Ballard quickly concludes that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and that it is linked to another unsolved murder—a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch.
To register book online – https://parra.city/connelly21

Fiona McIntosh presents The Spy’s Wife
Wednesday 24 November, 1.00pm

Fiona McIntosh will be in conversation with Mel Tong from Macquarie Regional Library chatting about her highly anticipated new historical adventure The Spy’s Wife.
Evie, a widow and stationmaster’s daughter, can’t help but look out for the weekly visit of the handsome man she and her sister call the Southerner on their train platform in the wilds of northern England. When polite salutations shift to friendly conversations, they become captivated by each other. After so much sorrow, the childless Evie can’t believe love and the chance for her own family have come into her life again. With rumours coming out of Germany that Hitler may be stirring up war, local English authorities have warned against spies. Even Evie becomes suspicious of her new suitor, Roger. But all is not what it seems. 
Penguin Random House Australia and Fiona McIntosh are giving one lucky attendee a chance to win a beautiful Hermès silk scarf. To register book online – https://parra.city/mcintosh21

October 2021 Author Talks

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City of Parramatta Libraries have once again teamed up with Public Libraries NSW to offer our communities the chance to attend FREE online author talks over the coming months.
There are three author talks for the month of October that you can attend from the comfort of home – Judy Nunn, Claire G. Coleman and Costa Georgiadis.

Judy Nunn Presents Showtime!
Wednesday 6 October, 6.30pm

Judy Nunn will be in conversation with Catherine Krause from Central Coast Libraries about her bestselling new novel Showtime! that takes us on a scintillating journey through the golden age of Australian show business.
In the second half of the 19th century, Melbourne is a veritable boom town, as hopefuls from every corner of the globe flock to the gold fields of Victoria. And where people crave gold, they also crave entertainment. Enter stage right: brothers Will and Max Worthing and their wives Mabel and Gertie.
To register book online – parra.city/nunn21

Claire G. Coleman Presents Lies, Damned Lies
Thursday 14 October, 6.30pm

Claire G. Coleman will be in conversation with Torres Strait Islander journalist and broadcaster, Rhianna Patrick, speaking about her non-fiction debut Lies, Damned Lies.
In Lies, Damned Lies, Coleman wields the truths unseen in Australia’s history to highlight the wrongs that underpin the very foundations of this nation. Coleman has long used her writing as a vehicle for truth-telling and Lies, Damned Lies is the ultimate exemplar of this. By layering her experiences against the realities of Australia’s past and present Coleman demonstrates the ongoing impacts of colonisation on the individual, and on Country, to devastating effect. 
To register book online – parra.city/coleman21

Costa Georgiadis Presents Costa’s World
Wednesday 27 October, 6.30pm

Costa Georgiadis will be in conversation with Robyn Syphers from Camden Libraries discussing his new book Costa’s World.
Gardening for the soul, the soil and the suburbs – from the beloved host of ABC TV’s Gardening Australia. A generous, joyous, fully illustrated gardening book, Costa’s World celebrates the life-changing joy of chooks; kids in the garden; big ideas for small spaces; Costa’s favourite plants; growing the right plants for your conditions; biodiversity in the soil and garden; the power of community; the brilliance of bees and pollinators; easy-peasy permaculture; and much, much more. Bringing together all of Costa’s gardening and sustainability knowledge, this is a book for the whole family that reflects Costa’s philosophy and big-hearted sense of fun.
To register book online – parra.city/costa21

Book Club Review The Dictionary of Lost Words

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Summary

In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary.

Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day, she sees a slip containing the word bondmaid flutter to the floor unclaimed. Esme seizes the word and hides  it in an old wooden trunk that belongs to her friend, Lizzie,  a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Comments

Our group thoroughly enjoyed this novel. We loved the descriptive writing, the historical perspective, the believable characters and the gentle, interesting way the emancipation of women was treated. We savoured the warmth of the relationships between families and women. It was a love story that involved people, places and language. The treatment of women’s suffrage ran throughout the story but we weren’t ‘hit over the head’ with it. We were connected to it in a subtle, sympathetic way as we observed it through the life of the main character and her observations of others and understanding of the use and meaning of words. Learning how the dictionary was compiled was also fascinating. A great read.

Read by MJ Readers

September Author Talks

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City of Parramatta Libraries have once again teamed up with Public Libraries NSW to offer our communities the chance to attend FREE online author talks over the coming months. 
There are two author talks for the month of September that you can attend from the comfort of home – Tom Keneally and Matt Murphy.

Tom Keneally Presents ‘Corporal Hitler’s Pistol’
Thursday 9 September, 12.30pm

Tom Keneally will be in conversation with Christine Dearness from Willoughby City Libraries discussing his compelling new story set in early twentieth-century Australia.
How did Corporal Hitler’s Luger from the First World War end up being the weapon that killed an IRA turncoat in Kempsey, New South Wales, in 1933?
Corporal Hitler’s Pistol speaks to the never-ending war that began with ‘the war to end all wars’. Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch … as long as they don’t overstep.
To register book online – parra.city/keneally21

Matt Murphy Presents ‘Rum: a distilled history of Colonial Australia’
Wednesday 15 September, 6.30pm

Matt Murphy will be in conversation with Eric Dodson from Lane Cove Library taking us through his account of the formation of Australia through the distorted view of a rum bottle.
He will cover questions like Would the Eureka Stockade have been different if the rebels weren’t pissed? And how were prisoners able to get drunk if Macquarie closed the only pub in the goal?..
To register book online – parra.city/murphy21

August Reading Wrap-up

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Welcome to our monthly reading wrap-up fellow readers!

Books, books & more books.

Finding ourselves still in lockdown here in Sydney being able to enjoy the odd book or two is one thing we look forward to in our downtime. Enjoying every opportunity to share what we are reading our City of Parramatta reading community is one of our highlights.

With our reading theme for August being, ‘Big, Bang Books’, I decided to re-read ‘And the mountains echoed’ by Khaled Hosseini. While ‘And the mountains echoed’ isn’t my favourite Khaled Hosseini book, it was still a beautiful, emotional read that stayed with me for days after I finished the book. The next time I’m looking to have my heart squeezed, I think I might re-read, ‘The kite runner’ & ‘A thousand splendid suns’.

‘Banned Books’ is our reading theme for September and one that offers up a great chance to pick up one of those classics you have been considering for years. We have highlighted some titles you might like to explore for your reading or listening pleasure.

For those of you who are more interested in exploring what we have been reading, you will find a list below.

Whatever book you choose to read over the next month or so, we hope you enjoy it.

Happy reading,

Jody

Some of the fabulous books we’ve been reading

The distant hours by Kate Morton – eBook, eAudiobook

The Henna artist by Alka Joshi – eBook, eAudiobook

Still life by Sarah Winman – eBook

The truth about her by Jacqueline Maley – eBook, eAudiobook

Leave me alone: A memoir of me, myself and Trish by Christian Hall – eBook

The truth & Addy Loest by Kim Kelly – eAudiobook

Olive, again by Elizabeth Strout – eBook, eAudiobook

One hundred days by Alice Pung – eBook

Your second life begins when you realize you only have one by Raphaelle Giordano

The electric hotel by Dominic Smith – eBook, eAudiobook

So much life left over by Louis de Berniere – eAudiobook

The bluffs by Kyle Perry – eBook, eAudiobook

Thorn by Intisar Khanani – eBook, eAudiobook

And the mountains echoed by Khaled Hosseini – eBook, eAudiobook

Hamilton and Peggy! A revolutionary friendship by L.M. Elliott – eAudiobook A doctor in Africa by Dr Andew Browning – eBook, eAudiobook

Banned books

All the titles listed were at some point banned in Countries around the world or people were asking for them to be banned. How many have your read?

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