tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66181227187562319282024-03-14T12:40:31.234+01:00Leitha Martin's Story BlogPersonal history, thoughts and ideas on the adventure of writing for children and young adults and publishing in the age of the internet.Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-22376648611892269412022-07-30T17:09:00.007+02:002022-08-11T11:19:02.508+02:00THe SaVagEs aRe BaCk!<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">the second volume of</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">the Savages of Kipper Street series</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">T</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he SAVAGES are BACK!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">so...<b>ON</b> with the <b>Chaos</b>...</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">If you've ever dreamt of:</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">saying what you really think in an art gallery;</span><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">taking part in a talent show even if you can't sing or dance; </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">playing a mean trick on your mean neighbours;</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpBO1kNJvXJ7f6-Ub8eF2K8iGwsmxLeq8TdkhuZgs6_DARZ7FV-AfuWVd23-lKQbrmosLlTdfxYCEcMiqyMQSp3VfqF89FmZ_vzpdRbRtx2wJvNz3QL62Touvepdvxf03EdvXMV4Yjjkva5Me1ZptW5-gNqL4gI6i3vnP6c9lPI8jqcNLxbUPZ-wJag/s1769/b&w%20illo_6%20(1).jpg" style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="1769" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpBO1kNJvXJ7f6-Ub8eF2K8iGwsmxLeq8TdkhuZgs6_DARZ7FV-AfuWVd23-lKQbrmosLlTdfxYCEcMiqyMQSp3VfqF89FmZ_vzpdRbRtx2wJvNz3QL62Touvepdvxf03EdvXMV4Yjjkva5Me1ZptW5-gNqL4gI6i3vnP6c9lPI8jqcNLxbUPZ-wJag/w400-h281/b&w%20illo_6%20(1).jpg" width="400" /></span></a><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">living wild, like in the Stone Age;</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVU-IN5PKZ21vspAHCn5kLkmx64aBQqOcwG3FVVRCMlu6mGT-46T1oeaqglMfM-KQ7-uH3YMmC3KN3n2CdTT7P9S4dfxkHiqR8yYVx8RvGJJfRmmVMKuc5bt9L2SjPy3fF6OvUNfusXka2RbMmOQPjimlSfPtfOkPJbenJ2lXmg9x1p5j1mIm7NIViuw/s1485/b&w%20illo_5.jpg" style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1485" data-original-width="1183" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVU-IN5PKZ21vspAHCn5kLkmx64aBQqOcwG3FVVRCMlu6mGT-46T1oeaqglMfM-KQ7-uH3YMmC3KN3n2CdTT7P9S4dfxkHiqR8yYVx8RvGJJfRmmVMKuc5bt9L2SjPy3fF6OvUNfusXka2RbMmOQPjimlSfPtfOkPJbenJ2lXmg9x1p5j1mIm7NIViuw/w319-h400/b&w%20illo_5.jpg" width="319" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">having a chat with the Queen;</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWlAM9zt04dGFYMvFzbmKvIC6p0zhxDU-bxd8vcTxrjmNhAOjjTR4m0qRYPKEEPQjvuWQSXlU9Dbj3LOdXubQlEGKbAP1Hd6M_1T6MtcF04k-1-R04gGhIBK_sSaYey3QMbgv4JN99qW8N1l2B9o68GhXCpyP2xJLJ58el6rMFdScCAcZTiKEeBLoWQ/s2362/b&w%20illo_3.jpg" style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1265" data-original-width="2362" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWlAM9zt04dGFYMvFzbmKvIC6p0zhxDU-bxd8vcTxrjmNhAOjjTR4m0qRYPKEEPQjvuWQSXlU9Dbj3LOdXubQlEGKbAP1Hd6M_1T6MtcF04k-1-R04gGhIBK_sSaYey3QMbgv4JN99qW8N1l2B9o68GhXCpyP2xJLJ58el6rMFdScCAcZTiKEeBLoWQ/w400-h214/b&w%20illo_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></span><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">going out with your whole family dressed as bogeymen;</span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">crashing a dogshow</span></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">or</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">babysitting a farmful of animals...</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gNGB1Dj1Pu8ODmL3l_IR-1W0DxeS3RXVkIahlcYfPfj1bQHOomS7BgUp1QBTG08fkd8cveJOtOHqtLs_VYQTYNngaEeTdJcPhe16fx_KOHOBIHeBFQVehAlkGHkFmdwPU2U0U3N1a9S2WrYLq82QPin_a5qyOiKh9wxXtZTzeW3WRKOh5zQ0o4NY_g/s1763/b&w%20illo_7.jpg" style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1578" data-original-width="1763" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gNGB1Dj1Pu8ODmL3l_IR-1W0DxeS3RXVkIahlcYfPfj1bQHOomS7BgUp1QBTG08fkd8cveJOtOHqtLs_VYQTYNngaEeTdJcPhe16fx_KOHOBIHeBFQVehAlkGHkFmdwPU2U0U3N1a9S2WrYLq82QPin_a5qyOiKh9wxXtZTzeW3WRKOh5zQ0o4NY_g/w400-h358/b&w%20illo_7.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">...well...</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">our friends the SAvAgEs have been there and done that...and much more!</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">See what it's like!!</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The much-awaited sequel to </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Savage Days </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">continues the uproarious and chaotic adventures of the family from Kipper Lane.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvwKIMoyCT3WkxHfKGuTqvF5KxvnunkCt9gqIO-uhKjFOYSbmszT7Bt6DMzoQQ99rOaxr3JYhs72O3fIRuzh4Gb6PbZ_e5xHwlnxfzMc5ZzF6QtruqZqMkin89rm_p9EWKac57PYUmzPc3iZmcwLUzpCneQTjaER5w2psHOezROmbPrIKcNv2cs2ZZTw/s2106/b&w%20illo_4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1379" data-original-width="2106" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvwKIMoyCT3WkxHfKGuTqvF5KxvnunkCt9gqIO-uhKjFOYSbmszT7Bt6DMzoQQ99rOaxr3JYhs72O3fIRuzh4Gb6PbZ_e5xHwlnxfzMc5ZzF6QtruqZqMkin89rm_p9EWKac57PYUmzPc3iZmcwLUzpCneQTjaER5w2psHOezROmbPrIKcNv2cs2ZZTw/s320/b&w%20illo_4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><p></p>Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-10574173303627579512021-06-15T17:03:00.003+02:002022-08-12T10:29:36.430+02:00<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>a </b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Little Critters</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>book</b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dmWXoDTKpPk/YDKOzoRch0I/AAAAAAAAamE/4a6hLRUxpuEXNCgEM19tu82IftXZMy0awCLcBGAsYHQ/s714/9d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="709" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dmWXoDTKpPk/YDKOzoRch0I/AAAAAAAAamE/4a6hLRUxpuEXNCgEM19tu82IftXZMy0awCLcBGAsYHQ/w199-h200/9d.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>ALFIE PRICKLES<i> </i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">AND</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>THE SCARY THINGS</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pTY5fd2y2tw/YDKOkBrE5eI/AAAAAAAAamA/ufdhImg0Kv8cGgs6Ent2opHA2h3lRVzBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1654/12b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="1654" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pTY5fd2y2tw/YDKOkBrE5eI/AAAAAAAAamA/ufdhImg0Kv8cGgs6Ent2opHA2h3lRVzBwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h308/12b.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G8kbKmINNKo/X1Jasbbpb7I/AAAAAAAAYok/-ObFHP1ScaMp_m806UiX9_yoJhbOiNMFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s466/hedgehog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="466" height="323" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G8kbKmINNKo/X1Jasbbpb7I/AAAAAAAAYok/-ObFHP1ScaMp_m806UiX9_yoJhbOiNMFQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h323/hedgehog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Scared of the dark?
</i></span></p><br /><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5EOnnq-sYU/YDKOSAmT-yI/AAAAAAAAal4/xvP_u0rVKAQPsEfvD6wVwNvR7SgSBLJbACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1329" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5EOnnq-sYU/YDKOSAmT-yI/AAAAAAAAal4/xvP_u0rVKAQPsEfvD6wVwNvR7SgSBLJbACLcBGAsYHQ/w260-h400/1b.jpg" width="260" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><span><!--more--></span><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Scared
of animals? </i></span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9OIv6reCR_c/X1Jas9UTUjI/AAAAAAAAYos/GdJJh7dNutYzuXvmBrAOAM2fU-xlV9aYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s225/ponies.jpg" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9OIv6reCR_c/X1Jas9UTUjI/AAAAAAAAYos/GdJJh7dNutYzuXvmBrAOAM2fU-xlV9aYgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/ponies.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Scared of new things?
</i></span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oRaq1_wF840/YDKQb8Y_yQI/AAAAAAAAamk/DPqQ2tspgzsCXO0KBJkcsf664J-RncsMwCLcBGAsYHQ/s970/12a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="970" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oRaq1_wF840/YDKQb8Y_yQI/AAAAAAAAamk/DPqQ2tspgzsCXO0KBJkcsf664J-RncsMwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/12a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i style="color: red; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Scared of injections?</span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yNw0A99VUt0/YDKNJYELvaI/AAAAAAAAalc/WHEAcxkDYvwhEZY2WoQjAbfnsRutHnZygCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/9b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1329" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yNw0A99VUt0/YDKNJYELvaI/AAAAAAAAalc/WHEAcxkDYvwhEZY2WoQjAbfnsRutHnZygCLcBGAsYHQ/w416-h640/9b.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Scared of thunderstorms?</i></span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kRRG-wwqjrE/X1JbUg1zu1I/AAAAAAAAYpE/DyF4jRiBu2MeqNQsJ_DWwskU5okeWz6uQCLcBGAsYHQ/s970/Storm_0.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: xx-large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="970" height="330" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kRRG-wwqjrE/X1JbUg1zu1I/AAAAAAAAYpE/DyF4jRiBu2MeqNQsJ_DWwskU5okeWz6uQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h330/Storm_0.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"></span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Well,
you’re not the only one.</span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Alfie
Prickles is scared of lots of different things.
</span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">He’s
scared of having an injection, he’s scared of</span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> swimming lessons,
he’s scared of riding a pony, he's </span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">scared about his new school,</span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> he’s even a bit scared of his next
door </span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">neighbour, Mr Jaguar and sometimes he's scared</span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> about going to sleep...</span></p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TZeY0QZBNHI/YDKNhMiZqpI/AAAAAAAAalk/hER0VMvhFzwhcdgCwRDH_CU5kyvc5Tl8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1654/4c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="1654" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TZeY0QZBNHI/YDKNhMiZqpI/AAAAAAAAalk/hER0VMvhFzwhcdgCwRDH_CU5kyvc5Tl8wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h308/4c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">These are stories about things which scare Alfie,</span></span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large; text-align: left;">and how he learns to handle them.</span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"></span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Alfie and his friends,</span></p><p></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"></span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">a Komodo dragon, an armadillo, a lemur, a warthog, a </span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">platypus, a sloth, </span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"></span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">and last but not least, a very wise Rag Doll,</span> will show
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how anyone can get braver...</span></p><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NirXL21yUmg/YDKN6zMX8rI/AAAAAAAAalw/6JcZW4BDNDwDL0-jUqxicc5qBdN1cAaiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/3b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1329" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NirXL21yUmg/YDKN6zMX8rI/AAAAAAAAalw/6JcZW4BDNDwDL0-jUqxicc5qBdN1cAaiwCLcBGAsYHQ/w416-h640/3b.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><br /><p align="center" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkpUbYVG-zE/X1JarofeiaI/AAAAAAAAYoY/yZer2bye9fEUEz3hGKRJ20UCEGIMVSdFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/baths.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="750" height="324" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkpUbYVG-zE/X1JarofeiaI/AAAAAAAAYoY/yZer2bye9fEUEz3hGKRJ20UCEGIMVSdFgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h324/baths.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">..............and have fun!</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V4Taxa4Vc7w/YDKPQ8kocFI/AAAAAAAAamU/xERQGmu8INocDHUV2ob3MjXnDlhX9G5WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s714/3d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="709" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V4Taxa4Vc7w/YDKPQ8kocFI/AAAAAAAAamU/xERQGmu8INocDHUV2ob3MjXnDlhX9G5WQCLcBGAsYHQ/w199-h200/3d.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: red; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lzlqAdxaCA/X1JasoHzeSI/AAAAAAAAYoo/rSncuNVRulIalbYhuUNFbrJDV0ykCHxvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/peaches.jpg" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="800" height="116" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lzlqAdxaCA/X1JasoHzeSI/AAAAAAAAYoo/rSncuNVRulIalbYhuUNFbrJDV0ykCHxvQCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h116/peaches.jpg" width="200" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-80542823321137635342020-11-30T16:48:00.008+01:002022-08-12T10:27:58.527+02:00Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">the <span>third</span> and final volume of the </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Threepenny Tales </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">series:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93AtLljKqHI/Waex7uOVrPI/AAAAAAAAL_E/LZGRsJn352M1k9Knq4JYBJmpJ3YVuGyCgCLcBGAs/s1600/THREEPENNY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img alt="Threepenny Tales" border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="932" height="184" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93AtLljKqHI/Waex7uOVrPI/AAAAAAAAL_E/LZGRsJn352M1k9Knq4JYBJmpJ3YVuGyCgCLcBGAs/w320-h184/THREEPENNY.jpg" title="Threepenny Tales" width="320" /></b></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i><span><span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Fleur Marvell and the <span>Ingenious Inventions</span></span></span></span></span></i></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span><i><span><span><span style="color: orange; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>The</b></span></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span><span><i><span><span><span><span><span style="color: orange;"><span><span><b>Inventive Adventures </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span><br />
<span><i><span><span><span><span><span style="color: orange;"><span><span><b>of a </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span><i><span><span><span><span><span style="color: orange;"><span><span><b>Girl in a </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span><i><span><span><span><span><span style="color: orange;"><span><span><b>Revolution</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></div>
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<span><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NNnKdm6PbiY/X8T1NdpEixI/AAAAAAAAZqU/bUsGSsH-DX4cbC53pLxbw_s1Z_zF9ekYwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1181/FLEUR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="1181" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NNnKdm6PbiY/X8T1NdpEixI/AAAAAAAAZqU/bUsGSsH-DX4cbC53pLxbw_s1Z_zF9ekYwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h320/FLEUR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></span></span></span></span></b><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">The third in the </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>THREEPENNY TALES series, </b></span></div><div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><i>Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions</i> </b></span></div><div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>links to its predecessors <i>The Adventures of Barnaby Twickins</i> and <i>Lily of Lonestorm</i> through some characters, references and settings.</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>This Threepenny Tale is inspired by the 18th century fascination with science and experiments and by the French Revolution. </b></span></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="414" height="289" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OvXMFtTwsu4/XA6rbqiuf4I/AAAAAAAAPoA/jankuGltmCke07ioJNMpKggb-VAEvPJ_wCLcBGAs/w400-h289/WrightAirPump1768-S.jpg" style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;" title="Wright Air Pump 1768" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--uOPZI7SySQ/XA6ugDE4leI/AAAAAAAAPok/68CSnc1aonE0BukpZv5ek-SqpBMPqSMxwCLcBGAs/s1600/9fc3c93a09687ed9af0c767909352bdb--munich-germany-about-germany.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--uOPZI7SySQ/XA6ugDE4leI/AAAAAAAAPok/68CSnc1aonE0BukpZv5ek-SqpBMPqSMxwCLcBGAs/w266-h400/9fc3c93a09687ed9af0c767909352bdb--munich-germany-about-germany.jpg" width="266" /></b></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span><b>Yet Ambrose's inventions are generally more fantastical and improbable and <span>Fleur's</span> <span>R</span>evolution is <span>abs<span>ur</span>dity <span>itself...</span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span><b><span><span><br /></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="2362" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EIRpzYwDQVU/X57Vu09yUzI/AAAAAAAAZM0/hEGCLODToco7DGGz3VOUDxPLuunOcS-0wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h200/1_3_Chapter%2Bblog.jpg" style="font-family: times;" title="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" width="400" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k1yXbr4EcBA/X57VulZCSmI/AAAAAAAAZMw/kyF4pWAvIYMKRD5J5ZOzY1IWo7msAjMNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2362/1_4_revised%2Bblog.jpg" style="clear: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="2362" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k1yXbr4EcBA/X57VulZCSmI/AAAAAAAAZMw/kyF4pWAvIYMKRD5J5ZOzY1IWo7msAjMNwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h200/1_4_revised%2Bblog.jpg" title="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oIKOtT3Mpqs/XA6vwaUVYAI/AAAAAAAAPow/WKXks_2cMTM9nXNnDxVg9WBPdOzSKel8QCLcBGAs/s1600/header_north-vista.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: times; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="1600" height="176" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oIKOtT3Mpqs/XA6vwaUVYAI/AAAAAAAAPow/WKXks_2cMTM9nXNnDxVg9WBPdOzSKel8QCLcBGAs/s640/header_north-vista.jpg" width="640" /></span><b></b></a><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span><b> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Fleur, Ambrose's lively and resourceful daughter braves abduction, stealth and subterfuge with her friends (a mouse, a cherub and a cheerful boy called Bruno) while <span>the</span> Revolution turns the whole world upside down and inside-out.</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LxGf6p40F3A/X57VvE3JqrI/AAAAAAAAZM4/C3E4mGgjmYETFEesH1yKgXD2u_HbSF6cACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1_0_Frontespizio%2Bblog.jpg" style="clear: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LxGf6p40F3A/X57VvE3JqrI/AAAAAAAAZM4/C3E4mGgjmYETFEesH1yKgXD2u_HbSF6cACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/1_0_Frontespizio%2Bblog.jpg" title="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" width="640" /></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JvsiVTxDTgk/X57VwB0XdDI/AAAAAAAAZNA/pqbW5yPF_GEpoAbVzne3D2d8lbohOvdZACLcBGAsYHQ/s2362/3_4_Chapter%2Bblog.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: 700; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="2362" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JvsiVTxDTgk/X57VwB0XdDI/AAAAAAAAZNA/pqbW5yPF_GEpoAbVzne3D2d8lbohOvdZACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h320/3_4_Chapter%2Bblog.jpg" title="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: times; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7j652pASOpg/XA6w8JUP_3I/AAAAAAAAPo8/D_TvKnA1mZInjaU_44DHvNASvoTvuweOQCLcBGAs/w640-h480/20cce457320046c19346b0fad4ecd27c--religious-paintings-trompe-l-oeil.jpg" width="640" /></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ORVsRu9rBHg/X57XiRm-0tI/AAAAAAAAZNY/w75SGM_lhH8w-76ckXNsX1BUyReQWkdiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2362/2_2_Chapter%2Brevised%2Bblog.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="2362" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ORVsRu9rBHg/X57XiRm-0tI/AAAAAAAAZNY/w75SGM_lhH8w-76ckXNsX1BUyReQWkdiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h320/2_2_Chapter%2Brevised%2Bblog.jpg" title="Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-indent: 48px;"><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Were Follies commonsensickal and truly judgematickal</span></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Our time could be frittered away</span></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Playing monsters and emperors and all things impractickal</span></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #38761d;">In fuddled and featherbrained ways!</span></b></div><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></div></div></div>
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: times; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iwDZFBipCUo/XA6ssNz12PI/AAAAAAAAPoQ/aGe0TN3xAQkPpqD9pCKZllvWNVF2Dji8QCLcBGAs/w640-h480/montgolfier2.jpg" title="Montgolfier or first hot-air balloon" width="640" /></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span>
<i><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Fleur Marvell and the Ingenious Inventions</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: times;">Fantastickal illustrations by Martina Marangoni</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span><span><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><b>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4ckIsqkKms/XA6tzAew5KI/AAAAAAAAPoc/xHVdXNdqSFEbUUIyEKydGhurUx3tkXzfQCLcBGAs/s1600/mouse_emma_patsie_flickr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="400" height="211" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4ckIsqkKms/XA6tzAew5KI/AAAAAAAAPoc/xHVdXNdqSFEbUUIyEKydGhurUx3tkXzfQCLcBGAs/w320-h211/mouse_emma_patsie_flickr.jpg" title="Drago, the studious barn mouse" width="320" /></span></b></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span><span><span style="color: orange;"><span><b><span><span><span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span><span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ze4_weT5MiI/VU46OctaQqI/AAAAAAAAJEw/Fbo0o1n1XeU/s1600/THREEPENNY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Threepenny Tales" border="0" height="230" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ze4_weT5MiI/VU46OctaQqI/AAAAAAAAJEw/Fbo0o1n1XeU/w400-h230/THREEPENNY.jpg" title="Threepenny Tales" width="400" /></a></span></b></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-37165930738012574522020-09-28T16:46:00.011+02:002020-11-30T16:52:22.956+01:00<div class="separator"><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: xx-large;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>LITTLE MISS KIWI</b></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"> Living up to Expectations</b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #e69138;"><br /></b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b>Spoiler Alert:</b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b>this post contains details which reveal plot elements of <i>Little Miss Kiwi</i></b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #e69138;"><i><br /></i></b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #e69138;"></b></b></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tW3xKAnYEq0/X3X4nU6S3ZI/AAAAAAAAY6g/I-C7LW9nbkwE_YUEtI62HKHy7xOLOxIigCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/ClipperRoute.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" height="250" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tW3xKAnYEq0/X3X4nU6S3ZI/AAAAAAAAY6g/I-C7LW9nbkwE_YUEtI62HKHy7xOLOxIigCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h250/ClipperRoute.png" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">before the opening of the Suez (1869) and Panama (1914) Canals, these were the routes between Britain and New Zealand</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #e69138;"><br /></b></b></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b>The last century saw a steady and continuous counter-emigration from former British colonies back to the 'Motherland'. Many such travellers settled permanently in Britain, making their own contribution to its culture and society.</b></b></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span><span><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b><b><b><i>Little Miss Kiwi</i> is based on a true-life story of this kind of emigration, or, more exactly, on one principal story and several other subsidiary stories. It</b></b></b></b></span></span></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><b><b><b style="text-align: justify;"><b><b><b> is intended as a homage to the trials and tribulations and eventual success of one of the many who made the journey.</b></b></b></b></b></b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b><b></b></b></b></span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRxe4h0bN0M/X3X7UtjI_3I/AAAAAAAAY6s/fMXQVaykVWEd2Rtq_KOiMOYG5thXqqIUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s620/188680.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="620" height="278" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRxe4h0bN0M/X3X7UtjI_3I/AAAAAAAAY6s/fMXQVaykVWEd2Rtq_KOiMOYG5thXqqIUgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h278/188680.png" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">route via Panama Canal</span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b><b><b><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">At that time, and until the advent of cheaper phone calls and, more recently, free, instantaneous communications, letter-writing was the only reasonable means of keeping in touch with one's faraway loved ones.</span></b></b></b></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f;"><b><b><b><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Letter-writing took time and patience, and was only ever a partially satisfactory tool. Still, there was an anticipation and excitement in the sending and receiving of letters which have been lost in our age of instant gratification.</span></b></b></b></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f;"><b><b><b><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">I hope to have rendered the flavour of those past times through Lucy's letters as they contrast and conflict with the actual events of her new life in a new land. </span></b></b></b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mbOY2224F0/X090cifxS8I/AAAAAAAAYlA/J7TAlZU_pgAC4SLtQlBgBfSfQIgcxpISwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/airmail.jpg" style="font-weight: 400; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="1000" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mbOY2224F0/X090cifxS8I/AAAAAAAAYlA/J7TAlZU_pgAC4SLtQlBgBfSfQIgcxpISwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h314/airmail.jpg" title="airmail envelopes" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span>airmail envelopes</span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #e69138;"><b style="color: #6aa84f;"><b style="color: #e69138;"></b></b></b></b></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #e69138;">A few years after the end of World War Two </b></b></span></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f;"><b style="color: #e69138;">Lucy Murdoch,</b></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f;"><b style="color: #e69138;"> a naive young New Zealander, travels far from home to learn to be an actor. She has won a scholarship to a world-famous acting school in London.</b></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: courier;"><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Little Miss Kiwi </i>is s</span></b><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">et against the backdrop of post-war Britain, still recovering from the war, but showing the first glimpses of regeneration. This atmosphere of contrasts enhances the challenges - and delights - of being young and ambitious in a strange new world.</span></b></span></span></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AqDSw5HGLRI/X090hqauwFI/AAAAAAAAYls/ZYxrfw4Fd8wqEQXzRljUIFB0peFO-O2yACLcBGAsYHQ/s512/rangitoto.jpg" style="font-weight: 400; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img alt="MS Rangitoto" border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AqDSw5HGLRI/X090hqauwFI/AAAAAAAAYls/ZYxrfw4Fd8wqEQXzRljUIFB0peFO-O2yACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/rangitoto.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b>MS Rangitoto</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;"></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Lucy's ship, the MS Rangitoto, takes her over the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal and on across the Atlantic </b></span><b style="color: #3d85c6;">to England</b><b style="color: #3d85c6;">.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l13iwhCCSpA/X090jcUVqNI/AAAAAAAAYl0/t3WSBgjfFTAzrdWwnRLCyIvGZfm9meA-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/pacific-ocean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img alt="The Pacific Ocean" border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="2048" height="332" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l13iwhCCSpA/X090jcUVqNI/AAAAAAAAYl0/t3WSBgjfFTAzrdWwnRLCyIvGZfm9meA-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w512-h332/pacific-ocean.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="512" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><i>The Pacific Ocean is endless, endless, endless...Mother, I can hear you say it's the destination that counts...</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>The story is told </b></span><b style="color: #f1c232;">partly through third-person narrative and </b><b style="color: #f1c232;">partly through Lucy's letters home to her mother. </b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QcCuVe1SCX8/X090gL3ulOI/AAAAAAAAYlY/Qp-VikPzuksAikNTxqGf_iWoxhP4f5Y5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/letter-writing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="750" height="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QcCuVe1SCX8/X090gL3ulOI/AAAAAAAAYlY/Qp-VikPzuksAikNTxqGf_iWoxhP4f5Y5wCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h214/letter-writing.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="328" /></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b>Lucy leaves behind her brilliant, blue and green islands, her mother and brother and a troubled family history for a life-changing venture. </b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span></span></span></p><!--more--><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></div></span><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jFQvPAprMvY/X090c6IEoVI/AAAAAAAAYlE/y488PS2eOfwqeW7rHzvLU2ULJklL3ehpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Wellington-city-1940s.jpg" style="font-weight: 400; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img alt="Wellington New Zealand in the 1950s" border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1000" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jFQvPAprMvY/X090c6IEoVI/AAAAAAAAYlE/y488PS2eOfwqeW7rHzvLU2ULJklL3ehpgCLcBGAsYHQ/w512-h394/Wellington-city-1940s.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="512" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b>Wellington, New Zealand in the 1950s</b></span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pg4SBpOfzjY/X090gs6emgI/AAAAAAAAYlg/gmuywh-n2DsHwk5HY36Q8qwijNsr2cM4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s512/marlborough%2Bsounds.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img alt="Marlborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand" border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pg4SBpOfzjY/X090gs6emgI/AAAAAAAAYlg/gmuywh-n2DsHwk5HY36Q8qwijNsr2cM4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/marlborough%2Bsounds.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>Marlborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand</b></span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">After a comical but harmless adventure in Panama City, Lucy finally arrives in London to discover a country and a people still cowed by the devastation of war.</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7InASKaiYEc/X090a3STP2I/AAAAAAAAYk4/OqLfBcO8eFgUsufvQosTrLx4BwWgBXeWACLcBGAsYHQ/s271/London%2Bpostwar.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="271" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7InASKaiYEc/X090a3STP2I/AAAAAAAAYk4/OqLfBcO8eFgUsufvQosTrLx4BwWgBXeWACLcBGAsYHQ/w339-h233/London%2Bpostwar.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="339" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><b>post-war London</b><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #999999;">Her new home is grey, depressed and alien. Lucy is dismayed: the place her countrymen call 'Home' is cold and unfamiliar. Although the acting school is full of young people looking to the future like Lucy, she finds it hard to make friends; she doesn't seem to fit in. One of the problems is the way she speaks.</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NlFYeY7iZW4/X090lLUZffI/AAAAAAAAYmE/ZP3_ZqL3Y4oVWXjTDOKNBwnFnt8dkifLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/rada.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span><img alt="Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="307" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NlFYeY7iZW4/X090lLUZffI/AAAAAAAAYmE/ZP3_ZqL3Y4oVWXjTDOKNBwnFnt8dkifLgCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h307/rada.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="410" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><b><span style="color: #999999;">RADA, London</span></b><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b><i>She soon found out that the British ear is attuned to accent, the status-marker par excellence. So she felt hampered by her own voice. And what is an actor if not first and foremost a voice?</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MEnr7uHFISk/X090fL_uY_I/AAAAAAAAYlQ/PL8rTmhrhzkbrxUF0_2yUKRUvTX7UFidgCLcBGAsYHQ/s450/la%2Bcontinentale%2Bcinema.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="450" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MEnr7uHFISk/X090fL_uY_I/AAAAAAAAYlQ/PL8rTmhrhzkbrxUF0_2yUKRUvTX7UFidgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/la%2Bcontinentale%2Bcinema.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><b><span style="color: #e06666;">La Continentale cinema, 1950s</span></b><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b style="color: #e06666;">Lucy passes some lonely weeks between her austere Hostel and challenging classes.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b><i>When she felt particularly lonely she went to Leicester Square to eat in a restaurant. Sometimes she had two dinners, just to prolong the warmth and the company...</i> </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b style="color: #e06666;">Her biggest consolation at this lonely time is the excitement of seeing the latest films from the Continent.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jMOE-VuHL8/X090jgN02BI/AAAAAAAAYl4/zKdwFpjFZlYqu0eSQnbRJWUkDfClhrUjACLcBGAsYHQ/s606/smog.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="606" height="323" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jMOE-VuHL8/X090jgN02BI/AAAAAAAAYl4/zKdwFpjFZlYqu0eSQnbRJWUkDfClhrUjACLcBGAsYHQ/w485-h323/smog.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="485" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="color: #999999;"><b>London pea-souper</b></span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #e69138;"><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #e69138;">Lucy faces multiple hurdles, some practical, some social, some emotional. Above all, attitudes of the day do not encourage a young woman to be independent:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><p lang="" style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white;">After all Miss Murdoch, acting isn’t the be-all and end-all of a woman’s life. Surely you know that woman’s true vocation is as wife and mother. Perhaps you should also consider this side of things.</b></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wsJmhvnk0MM/X090by9OuJI/AAAAAAAAYk8/TyYV3xfrnds670oGpFTAW0gr6mNnXBf3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s588/PinkPhone.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="588" height="306" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wsJmhvnk0MM/X090by9OuJI/AAAAAAAAYk8/TyYV3xfrnds670oGpFTAW0gr6mNnXBf3wCLcBGAsYHQ/w376-h306/PinkPhone.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="376" /></a></div><p lang="" style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify;"></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0telYGmT_4g/X090fv5BO7I/AAAAAAAAYlU/b_7MEcfAqBkA4rfDQplLbCTas56bJyfSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1023/kites.jpg" style="color: #6aa84f; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span><img alt="Hampstead Heath London" border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1023" height="429" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0telYGmT_4g/X090fv5BO7I/AAAAAAAAYlU/b_7MEcfAqBkA4rfDQplLbCTas56bJyfSwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h429/kites.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b>Hampstead Heath</b></span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b style="color: #6fa8dc;">Lucy's situation </b><b style="color: #6fa8dc;">gradually </b><b style="color: #6fa8dc;">improves,thanks to her spirit, her determination and her growing confidence. She wins a good part in a play which leads to a new, unexpected friendship.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br /></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qs6DJSnp-vE/X090kC_bBGI/AAAAAAAAYl8/wS4x8RO72D0q7oIkQ_En9cDTi-z4zzuLACLcBGAsYHQ/s594/soho.jpg" style="color: #6aa84f; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span><img alt="Soho London" border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="594" height="363" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qs6DJSnp-vE/X090kC_bBGI/AAAAAAAAYl8/wS4x8RO72D0q7oIkQ_En9cDTi-z4zzuLACLcBGAsYHQ/w380-h363/soho.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="380" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="color: #444444;"><b>Soho</b></span><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b>Over the summer she works in a northern repertory theatre which boosts her confidence in her own abilities. It also opens her eyes onto another world, another reality of which she had been completely unaware. </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b><i>Oh Mother...I saw miners trudging home from work, their faces black, their eyes staring white out of the soot...They are grim, worn out...</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sy8izMCeijU/X090ghsZRaI/AAAAAAAAYlc/hSciu0tJprUl016GZGE4ZDF_8tJl9AimwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/coalminer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1590" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sy8izMCeijU/X090ghsZRaI/AAAAAAAAYlc/hSciu0tJprUl016GZGE4ZDF_8tJl9AimwCLcBGAsYHQ/w254-h328/coalminer.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" width="254" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><b>Lucy's second year in London promises to be very different from her first, for many delightful reasons...But most of all, she has learnt to have confidence in her own abilities and in her life choices.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcocOPLdigU/X090hMX319I/AAAAAAAAYlo/TZJyFZw04AoNSKKn636M-EhaLvXd6YquACLcBGAsYHQ/s286/oklahoma.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="187" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcocOPLdigU/X090hMX319I/AAAAAAAAYlo/TZJyFZw04AoNSKKn636M-EhaLvXd6YquACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/oklahoma.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><p lang="" style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="background-color: white;">Despite her shyness and intrinsic limitations, Lucy gains the assurance to pursue her goals and recognize her own strengths.</b></span></span></p><p style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><i style="background-color: transparent; text-align: center;"><b>Lucy almost gasped: it was not other people’s expectations she needed to live up to. The most important thing was living up to her own expectations. Which, as Mother would have said, was the only thing that truly mattered. Little Miss Kiwi she might be, but she had her pride.</b></i></span></b></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSP2ZQir-os/X090ignDZBI/AAAAAAAAYlw/SItZj5U6XKkI_TD30-fmwnmIwDn1G4XOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s229/red%2Brose.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Little Miss Kiwi" border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="229" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSP2ZQir-os/X090ignDZBI/AAAAAAAAYlw/SItZj5U6XKkI_TD30-fmwnmIwDn1G4XOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/red%2Brose.jpg" title="Little Miss Kiwi" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b></b></span><p></p>Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-7546009020053961172019-01-02T19:03:00.006+01:002020-11-10T16:23:12.711+01:00The Kids from S.N.O.O.P<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span face=""><span face=""><span style="color: #cc0000;">Memories</span> of an <span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span face=""><span style="color: #cc0000;">Australian</span> </span></span></span></span><span face="">C</span>hildhood</span></span></b></span></span></span></span>
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<br /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Spoiler Alert:<br />this post contains details which reveal plot elements of <i>The Kids from Snoop</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><i><span face=""><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Kids from S.N.O.O.P</span></b></span></span></span></i></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""> interweaves personal m</span>emories of growing up in inner suburban Melbourne in the 1960s with the fictional adventures of three aspiring </span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">young </span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">detectives and their quest for mysteries to solve.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o3rsS2Ut5NE/UoHb1niOI1I/AAAAAAAAFKo/gq9VYufp1rM/s1600/art-cowcher_20110916103940425849-420x0.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="393" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o3rsS2Ut5NE/UoHb1niOI1I/AAAAAAAAFKo/gq9VYufp1rM/s640/art-cowcher_20110916103940425849-420x0.jpg" title="Robin Cowcher's nostalgic portrait of Aussie lollies" width="640" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: orange;"> </span><b> </b></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><i><span face=""><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Kids from S.N.O.O.P</span> </b></span></span></span></i></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">has been a lovely excuse for me to </span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">revisit</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span></span></span></i><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">people, neighbourhoods, school, customs, fashions and foods from the past, as well as particular memories.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PyP8rlslpUU/XCuwJHnEczI/AAAAAAAAPzQ/SgCmfOLJAXwvDVaE0r1pA83Sfs7GNgtvQCLcBGAs/s1600/chapter%2B6_raffle.tif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1600" height="255" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PyP8rlslpUU/XCuwJHnEczI/AAAAAAAAPzQ/SgCmfOLJAXwvDVaE0r1pA83Sfs7GNgtvQCLcBGAs/s400/chapter%2B6_raffle.tif" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="185" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LjfmqabpDMA/UoHfOz1YzuI/AAAAAAAAFLA/ylPjHmS7uhc/s400/seekers.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="The Seekers" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YP7GCXqdqU" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face="">The Seekers</span></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">I recall the 1960s as an era when children's </span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">external possibilities for </span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">entertainment </span></span></span></span></span>were <span face="">much</span> more limited than today, yet in many respects we were freer to play, invent </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">and explore</span></span></span><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"> on our own<span face=""> in ways which would be unthinkable <span face="">nowadays</span>.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qAM-yo7IBas/UoHjQcUmzSI/AAAAAAAAFLM/BIzyfavJD1M/s1600/playground_60.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qAM-yo7IBas/UoHjQcUmzSI/AAAAAAAAFLM/BIzyfavJD1M/s400/playground_60.jpg" title="similar equipment but fewer children in 1960s Melbourne" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">The storyline reflects that contradiction: Rache, Suzi and Tom dispose of seemingly endless and countless days to play at being detectives, and although their means and scope are limited, their imaginations have free rein. All the same, their peaceful, ordinary environment frustrates them time and again: where are the crimes they <span face="">are so keen</span> to solve?</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-31ZgnhMPr48/XCuwFjiBVpI/AAAAAAAAPzI/uyJj1Fkql2cW09D75U_RDU0-b8UmASNeACLcBGAs/s1600/chapter%2B1_troll.tif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1587" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-31ZgnhMPr48/XCuwFjiBVpI/AAAAAAAAPzI/uyJj1Fkql2cW09D75U_RDU0-b8UmASNeACLcBGAs/s320/chapter%2B1_troll.tif" title="Australian childhood: treasures in an Arnott's Biscuits tin" width="316" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few incongruous elements creep in: who are the red-faced men who gather in an abandoned lot, leaving behind empty bottles? What is the elegant dance th<span face="">e</span> Chinese gentleman <span face="">carries out</span> in the park? How come the unhappy Italian boy newly-arrived in Australia is virtually left to his own devices in what must have felt like a hostile environment?</span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gph73BM7yDE/UoHkPypKAyI/AAAAAAAAFLY/HTwLCzX-oUo/s1600/44902.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gph73BM7yDE/UoHkPypKAyI/AAAAAAAAFLY/HTwLCzX-oUo/s320/44902.jpeg" title="Tai Ch'i in the park" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="">Such questions <span face="">hint that c</span></span>hange and maturity is <span face="">on the <span face="">horizon</span>, that</span> the<span face=""> children's</span> per<span face="">fect <span face="">environment</span> is <span face="">an illus<span face="">ion<span face="">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color: #ffa400; font-size: large;"><span face="">Yet</span> <span face="">Rache, Suzi and Tom</span> are barely aware of it as they blithely explore th<span face="">eir wo<span face="">rld and</span> </span>invent, fantasize and create their <span face="">own 'adventures'.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Yh9EGjSu-E/UploXN2N75I/AAAAAAAAFTk/iZ3K80yVa70/s1600/3506691051_0cd24c8cea_z.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Yh9EGjSu-E/UploXN2N75I/AAAAAAAAFTk/iZ3K80yVa70/s400/3506691051_0cd24c8cea_z.jpg" title="Yarra Park Primary School, transformed into luxury apartments in the 1980s" width="300" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Beyond th<span face="">e<span face=""> children's</span> Melbourne non-adventures</span>, Rache <span face="">Mason </span>is also privileged enough to experience an ocean-going <span face="">voyage to the North which will eventually alter the course of her life...</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""><span face=""><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""><span face="">And which</span> may <span face="">turn into</span> the sub<span face="">ject of a sequel...</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xNNcJfKajM0/UoHcrR4_XfI/AAAAAAAAFK0/BjK0mRKb4DM/s1600/61526431.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xNNcJfKajM0/UoHcrR4_XfI/AAAAAAAAFK0/BjK0mRKb4DM/s400/61526431.jpg" title="David Michael Shannon's Milk Bar, straight out of the 60s" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"> At the end of the book, <span face="">there are descriptions of </span></span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">the very typical Aussie treats </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""><span face="">mentioned in the story,</span><span face=""></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">enjoyed as much </span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">today as </span></span></span></span></span><span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">in the 1960s...</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DsqtvoGbMZo/UpRN6ncxIkI/AAAAAAAAFQ8/z-HR7G2Mvvc/s1600/ANZAC+Cookies+2.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DsqtvoGbMZo/UpRN6ncxIkI/AAAAAAAAFQ8/z-HR7G2Mvvc/s200/ANZAC+Cookies+2.JPG" title="Australian Childhood: Anzac biscuits" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span face=""><span style="font-size: small;"><span face="">a</span>mazing <span face="">A</span>nzacs...</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aU31eMgQzgY/XCuwF28e99I/AAAAAAAAPzM/twY9AAmaM38QrsqVOh2C4-0dQJWCA775ACLcBGAs/s1600/chapter%2B9_fairy%2Bcakes.tif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aU31eMgQzgY/XCuwF28e99I/AAAAAAAAPzM/twY9AAmaM38QrsqVOh2C4-0dQJWCA775ACLcBGAs/s320/chapter%2B9_fairy%2Bcakes.tif" title="Australian childhood: Fairy cakes" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""><span style="color: #cc0000;">fancy fairycakes...</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VVytHkmXjOI/UpROiftACXI/AAAAAAAAFRE/kgQtHiuywq4/s1600/quick-easy-lamingtons.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="116" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VVytHkmXjOI/UpROiftACXI/AAAAAAAAFRE/kgQtHiuywq4/s320/quick-easy-lamingtons.jpg" title="Australian Childhood: Lamingtons" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span face=""><span style="font-size: small;"><span face="">l</span>uscious lamingtons...</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TcPOo6a8qkk/UpRO_t8iIXI/AAAAAAAAFRM/hAgt8sM60Mc/s1600/14031_l.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TcPOo6a8qkk/UpRO_t8iIXI/AAAAAAAAFRM/hAgt8sM60Mc/s320/14031_l.jpg" title="Australian Childhood: Pavlova" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""><span face="">p</span>eerless pavlova...</span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XQGkzoRsdm4/UpRPi8yVIAI/AAAAAAAAFRU/oBLmBtHFnwY/s1600/3644516970_825f46f0f9.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XQGkzoRsdm4/UpRPi8yVIAI/AAAAAAAAFRU/oBLmBtHFnwY/s200/3644516970_825f46f0f9.jpg" title="Australian Childhood: Yoyos" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""><span face="">y</span>ummy yoyos...</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span face="" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><span face=""></span></span></span></span></span></span><span face=""><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d3bDIf2W8gM/UpRR1ICjRyI/AAAAAAAAFRs/RRtkmn5jeWM/s1600/256895092_bea3cc449a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d3bDIf2W8gM/UpRR1ICjRyI/AAAAAAAAFRs/RRtkmn5jeWM/s200/256895092_bea3cc449a.jpg" title="Australian Childhood: 100s and 1000s sandwiches" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""><span face="">...and h</span>a<span style="color: #3d85c6;">p</span><span style="color: orange;">p</span>y <span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span face="">h<span style="color: #674ea7;">u</span>n<span style="color: orange;">d</span><span style="color: red;">r</span>ed</span></span>s a<span style="color: red;">n</span>d <span style="color: #134f5c;"><span face="">t<span style="color: blue;">h</span><span style="color: #38761d;">ou</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">s</span>a<span style="color: #351c75;">n</span>d</span></span>s</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usbHczW2psg/XCvQePZAvxI/AAAAAAAAPzg/uIpLkZtuCyYEyEXDo_gNA97caVuVax-XwCLcBGAs/s1600/chapter%2B8_possum.tif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1600" height="120" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usbHczW2psg/XCvQePZAvxI/AAAAAAAAPzg/uIpLkZtuCyYEyEXDo_gNA97caVuVax-XwCLcBGAs/s200/chapter%2B8_possum.tif" title="Australian childhood: possum eating figs" width="200" /></a></div>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-20574046435862449922018-08-06T11:35:00.006+02:002022-08-11T11:16:22.096+02:00SAvAgE DAys<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">the first volume of </span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">the Savages of Kipper Street series</span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><br /></p></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">A</span> Me<span style="color: blue;">S</span>sy Fa<span style="color: #6aa84f;">m</span>ily <span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: lime;">ha<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">v</span></span>ing</span></span></span></span> <span style="color: #674ea7;">M</span>aS<span style="color: orange;">s</span>es of Fu<span style="color: orange;">N</span></span></span></b><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-size: small;">Spoiler Alert:<br />this post contains details which reveal plot elements of <i>Savage Days</i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5v408ziKjac/W1H8bLsvjdI/AAAAAAAANuo/wYRwmMb2_SYpzwi6LJNkh2ql4ch9-D0hACLcBGAs/s1600/irish-wolfhound-ap-0qrfi8-645-x-380.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="645" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5v408ziKjac/W1H8bLsvjdI/AAAAAAAANuo/wYRwmMb2_SYpzwi6LJNkh2ql4ch9-D0hACLcBGAs/s400/irish-wolfhound-ap-0qrfi8-645-x-380.jpg" title="Savage Days, Toddy on the go" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><i>SAvAgE DAys</i></span></span></span>: the navenchas (adventures) of Sadie Savage, her Sensitive New Age Grandma Angie, her parental units Delia and Phil and her snotty-nosed, squabbling twin brothers Peas and Mash, who get into some a-m-a-zing scrapes, plus last but not least: Toddy the bounding Irish wolfhound and Splendour the splendid cat. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TNdHIvQKz84/W1H6eubXeAI/AAAAAAAANuA/R3Is7HgIlQ4AsH04Zns9bGjAJ-BvrnGRwCLcBGAs/s1600/nintchdbpict000274905882.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="960" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TNdHIvQKz84/W1H6eubXeAI/AAAAAAAANuA/R3Is7HgIlQ4AsH04Zns9bGjAJ-BvrnGRwCLcBGAs/s400/nintchdbpict000274905882.jpg" title="Savage Days, this could be Kipper street" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;">Sometimes ideas for writing come from nowhere. Of course they never come from nowhere but sometimes it's tricky to pinpoint where they do come from...</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Sadie's escapades have an echo of A Bear called Paddington without the (inimitable) Bear; a dash of Max and Moritz, those 19th century German rapscallions; possibly a trace of Pippi Longstocking and that wacky cartoon series from the 1990s, Bangers and Mash. Some of these 'influences' only occurred to me while writing this presentation, for when I started </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><i>SAvAgE DAys</i></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"> I wished merely to portray, in a purely comic light, a quirky, unruly family.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5GAF5O9T4cE/W1Gw7RP0aDI/AAAAAAAANtk/1AV75WLxmksN9luYDFrhc6zVt5kCtuTYACLcBGAs/s1600/Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1061" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5GAF5O9T4cE/W1Gw7RP0aDI/AAAAAAAANtk/1AV75WLxmksN9luYDFrhc6zVt5kCtuTYACLcBGAs/s400/Cover.jpg" title="Savage Days" width="265" /></a><br /> </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv0Sob--mDc/W1nnffAQJRI/AAAAAAAAN1Q/4pT3CW5yhm0_IlyJQmFCj4MkSJ_YAvztgCLcBGAs/s1600/57.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">The family sprang to life as 21st century Londoners, living in a terrace house next door to grumpy neighbours. The narrator, Sadie, is an outspoken, individualistic teen, her father a keen Green, her mother a frustrated actor, her grandmother not the conventional 'nan', and her twin brothers as wicked as possible without being hooligans. There is also a gorgeous cat and a bounding hound.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V07Nd1T52VM/W1H7i_PG2cI/AAAAAAAANuU/EIbZmH5hU8cXzLXSxDhvobks82Qfk7qSwCLcBGAs/s1600/540593580-612x612.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V07Nd1T52VM/W1H7i_PG2cI/AAAAAAAANuU/EIbZmH5hU8cXzLXSxDhvobks82Qfk7qSwCLcBGAs/s400/540593580-612x612.jpg" title="Savage Days, Splendour definitely looks like this" width="400" /></a> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">From a chocolate cake disaster to a Komodo dragon and liquorice allsorts, pogo sticks to paragliding cats, a night at the Nopera to ice-cream bashing: there is chaos and confusion for everyone in <i>SAvAgE DAys</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv0Sob--mDc/W1nnffAQJRI/AAAAAAAAN1Q/4pT3CW5yhm0_IlyJQmFCj4MkSJ_YAvztgCLcBGAs/s1600/57.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="677" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv0Sob--mDc/W1nnffAQJRI/AAAAAAAAN1Q/4pT3CW5yhm0_IlyJQmFCj4MkSJ_YAvztgCLcBGAs/s400/57.jpg" title="Savage Days, the purple paraglider" width="335" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">The main difficulty in writing this story, or series of episodes, was the language, the children's slang. I am still not sure I got it right: it's hard to be in touch with the way English kids talk these days, specially when writing in another country.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xilVsGOMiSs/W1GxiKCfEiI/AAAAAAAANt0/sZERx3f-R4gSkmoOQ-Ilr6Apl9uM4v9YACLcBGAs/s1600/4Bash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="1538" height="330" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xilVsGOMiSs/W1GxiKCfEiI/AAAAAAAANt0/sZERx3f-R4gSkmoOQ-Ilr6Apl9uM4v9YACLcBGAs/s400/4Bash.jpg" title="Savage Days, Phil's famous Prehistoric Cake" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;">My hope is that the reader will find the Savages funny, if at times horrifying, and that despite the absurd scrapes they get into, s/he will nevertheless be caught up in their lives.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tnXHEMHnkGk/W1H77JDU8pI/AAAAAAAANuc/azXraSn0rcc6twAWfSaW4ArP0aA6LlcqgCLcBGAs/s1600/7773871760_088b3ec7d1_b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tnXHEMHnkGk/W1H77JDU8pI/AAAAAAAANuc/azXraSn0rcc6twAWfSaW4ArP0aA6LlcqgCLcBGAs/s400/7773871760_088b3ec7d1_b.jpg" title="Savage Days, the Nopera House" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">As Sadie says: The Savage family is good value for money. Everyone’s a bit nutty but fun at the same time, which makes for some priceless situations. Like the day we took the cat to the beach, or when the twins short-circuited a shopping centre, or made an earthquake, or…Well, you really have to read it to believe it.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t0k02ZE_slM/W1H-ToCB9qI/AAAAAAAANu0/5jycATcsas4buls8fir2PDSVBp2Yxg6JACLcBGAs/s1600/6Fate.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t0k02ZE_slM/W1H-ToCB9qI/AAAAAAAANu0/5jycATcsas4buls8fir2PDSVBp2Yxg6JACLcBGAs/s640/6Fate.jpg" title="Savage Days, Phil's popular fete goodies" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><i>SAvAgE DAys</i></span></span></span> was ridiculously fun to write; I hope it will be equally fun to read.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pxm8g4RTxt4/W1GwzN35xWI/AAAAAAAANtg/HA2djf7dukceiapp4zezaSdhyYxmDtABACLcBGAs/s1600/Komodo%2Bfinal.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1366" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pxm8g4RTxt4/W1GwzN35xWI/AAAAAAAANtg/HA2djf7dukceiapp4zezaSdhyYxmDtABACLcBGAs/s320/Komodo%2Bfinal.jpg" title="Savage Days, Komodo dragons love licorice allsorts" width="272" /></a></div>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-7629674809325686902017-10-04T18:48:00.001+02:002018-08-06T11:36:52.219+02:00Wide Awake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Diary of an Australian Milkmaid<br /><br />1882 to 1889</span></span></span></span></b><i><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Spoiler Alert:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this post contains details which reveal plot elements of Wide Awake</span></span></span></span><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Wide Awake</i> was written with several narrative themes in mind: two serious, one frivolous.</span></span></span></span><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Woolstone House, home to a wealthy squatter, c. 1908</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First, the frivolous: the romantic narrative. I relied on the glorious voice and spirit of the inimitable Stella Miles Franklin whose example of independence and freethinking might be emulated today by more young women. There is an element of her <i>My Brilliant Career</i>, an echo of Austen and a touch of Hardy in the basic love-interest storyline.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">Stella Miles Franklin</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">view from the Horn, Mount Buffalo</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The diary form came naturally. Em's voice was important for the story. Miles Franklin had a gift for slipping colloquialisms and slang into her first person narration, great plunder for anyone seeking an echo from the past. Her verve and feistiness are unique; my protagonist is a gentler sort, but her words owe much to Franklin and - to a lesser extent - to Mary Gilmore.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">scene from Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Arthur Streeton Golden Summer, Eaglemont, 1889</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Conservative colonial attitudes were amply evident in Ada Cambridge's account of her time in the colony: <i>Thirty Years in Australia</i>. She provided the prototype for the character of Mrs Trumpington, although I suspect <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ada would never <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">have approved of Mrs Trumpington's fashion <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">choices</span></span></span>. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">Ada Cambridge</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the dramatic<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>themes of <i>Wide Awake</i> is women's suffrage, a topic which animated Australian society in the second half of the 19th century and about which Australians can be at least partially proud. I say partially, because attitudes took so long to change, and because Aboriginal women and men did not achieve full suffrage until 1962.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Louisa Lawson</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Louisa Lawson and others were active in the fight and appear as themselves in <i>Wide Awake</i>. Em's enthusiasm and frustration must mirror what so many women were going through at the time. Thanks to such women's activism Australia became the second country in the world to give voting rights to (white) women regardless of their economic status.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />This story has been fermenting for a long time. I am Australian born and bred, lived there from birth for over 16 years. Yet as a child and young adult I must have existed in a bubble where the origins and conflicts of the early years of white settlement were totally ignored, and not just by me. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joseph Lycett Aboriginals Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos c. 1817</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I only ever glimpsed the original inhabitants of this land on occasional trips to the bush where I recall blacks in country towns sitting and standing in the shade. At high school just one year of our education was dedicated to Australian history and in that year I do not recall any mention of the first people. We studied Cook, the goldrush, the Eureka stockade, the settlers: the colonial experience. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FyOtu43IiWE/WbEXaGAm3HI/AAAAAAAAMD8/DkeGk1jOgYsLJvLO4CIJ17ZHnGHpkAb6QCLcBGAs/s1600/5a681f23-0a60-4be1-8a08-d6ef27c4eb76.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FyOtu43IiWE/WbEXaGAm3HI/AAAAAAAAMD8/DkeGk1jOgYsLJvLO4CIJ17ZHnGHpkAb6QCLcBGAs/s640/5a681f23-0a60-4be1-8a08-d6ef27c4eb76.jpg" title="Wide Awake, The Diary of an Australian Milkmaid" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Charles Doudiet, Swearing Allegiance to the Southern Cross 1854</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gradually over the past decades I have learnt what happened during and after the foundation of white Australia. The first inklings came from novels, some autobiographical treatments, the example of the father of a schoolfriend who during the 60s championed Aboriginal causes, then film, documentaries and finally from reading firsthand accounts, newspaper reports and seeing for myself how our modern-day compatriots live, sicken and die.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5lmUq-x7dxg/WbEZ7w0iSvI/AAAAAAAAMEI/Q9HQqhYn4AIT7Qt-GMqVQeBHxzsf9YXdQCLcBGAs/s1600/i488_m.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="600" height="250" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5lmUq-x7dxg/WbEZ7w0iSvI/AAAAAAAAMEI/Q9HQqhYn4AIT7Qt-GMqVQeBHxzsf9YXdQCLcBGAs/s320/i488_m.jpg" title="Wide Awake, The Diary of an Australian Milkmaid" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">photo from 1967 referendum giving Aboriginals greater citizens' rights</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">W</span>hen we took our children in the mid-90s to see central Australia, stopping overnight in Alice Springs<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> we encountered</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">impoverished</span></span>
children with distended bellies outside a
supermarket. I couldn't believe that this was Australia, my wealthy,
'lucky' homeland. How was it possible? A chance visit to
Gunbalanya/Oenpelli in Arnhem Land only increased our <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">bewilderment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="567" height="297" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1yNkdY6Nj78/WbEQSZp7OHI/AAAAAAAAMDY/ZFiFds1ujwEQECUjkTAtH6R8-T0-_OxIwCLcBGAs/s400/injalak.jpg" title="Wide Awake, The Diary of an Australian Milkmaid" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">near Oenpelli/Gunbalanya, Arnhem Land</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In recent years, around the time of our prime minister Rudd's apology to the Aboriginal population, (pathetically and inadequately titled 'Sorry Day') there was much talk of the Stolen Generations. Yet their sad story was just a chapter in the whole ghastly tale: what happened, from first contact for over one hundred years, was slow-motion genocide by tacit consent of the authorities and of the general population.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #7f6000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sorry Day, May 26th</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Few voices spoke out and few bore witness. This story can be only a partial reminder of what went on when the ambitions of the strong overwhelmed the rights of the weak.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F3ez9fQYY_0/WbEcAI8gvXI/AAAAAAAAMEg/eGbKTbdqkkkOj2ypAbkaI4enyZJ2OT75gCLcBGAs/s1600/220px-Mary_Gilmore_1912.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="220" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F3ez9fQYY_0/WbEcAI8gvXI/AAAAAAAAMEg/eGbKTbdqkkkOj2ypAbkaI4enyZJ2OT75gCLcBGAs/s1600/220px-Mary_Gilmore_1912.jpg" title="Wide Awake, The Diary of an Australian Milkmaid" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mary Gilmore, 1912</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My treatment of this tragic, until recently untold history largely derives from the writings of a late-19th century witness, Mary Gilmore. She is equally valuable for information on aboriginal farming practices and customs.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Illustrated Australian News, Digging and Bagging Potatoes, Warrnambool, 1881. In the 1860s many of these people may have hoped to start a new life as selectors; their hopes were bitterly frustrated, as recounted in Wide-Awake</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And as in any true tragedy, some of the perpetrators were also victims: the poor, often Irish selectors who were offered a living on plots of land found themselves with the arid, infertile dregs. Their anger and rebelliousness sometimes vented itself against those still less fortunate.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NLxr31iru_w/WbENskjKguI/AAAAAAAAMDM/MUPj7EpHfrMO6JnlumZZGPjeC6dRujLRACLcBGAs/s1600/Frederick-Mccubbin-Down-on-His-Luck.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="938" height="295" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NLxr31iru_w/WbENskjKguI/AAAAAAAAMDM/MUPj7EpHfrMO6JnlumZZGPjeC6dRujLRACLcBGAs/s400/Frederick-Mccubbin-Down-on-His-Luck.JPG" title="Wide Awake, The Diary of an Australian Milkmaid" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Frederick McCubbin Down on his Luck 1889</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am surprised that none of the above female authors are required reading for young Australians these days (at school Henry Handel Richardson was as close as we got to female Australian writers). Their accounts are valuable resources that remind us, to quote the title of Gilmore's autobiograph<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ical recollections</span>, about Old Days and Old Ways, both good and bad. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #7f6000;"><span style="font-size: small;">a 19th century horsewoman</span></span></span></td></tr>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-48859383630058447602017-09-06T14:21:00.008+02:002020-11-02T17:21:45.921+01:00Lily of Lonestorm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the second volume of the </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Threepenny Tales </span></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93AtLljKqHI/Waex7uOVrPI/AAAAAAAAL_E/LZGRsJn352M1k9Knq4JYBJmpJ3YVuGyCgCLcBGAs/s1600/THREEPENNY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Threepenny Tales" border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="932" height="184" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93AtLljKqHI/Waex7uOVrPI/AAAAAAAAL_E/LZGRsJn352M1k9Knq4JYBJmpJ3YVuGyCgCLcBGAs/w320-h184/THREEPENNY.jpg" title="Threepenny Tales" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i><span>Lily of Lonestorm</span></i></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;"><i>The </i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;"><i>Seafaring Adventures </i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;"><i>of a Girl </i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;"><i>in search of her Parents</i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nwf1BFzFT5Y/WbDdY3INivI/AAAAAAAAMCs/PPXdmDuUdQ8OPBMS29tMqC14OB3tMZP7ACLcBGAs/s1600/lily1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lily of Lonestorm" border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="1181" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nwf1BFzFT5Y/WbDdY3INivI/AAAAAAAAMCs/PPXdmDuUdQ8OPBMS29tMqC14OB3tMZP7ACLcBGAs/w320-h320/lily1.jpg" title="Lily of Lonestorm" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The second in the </b></span></div><div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>THREEPENNY TALES series, </b></span></div><div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Lily of Lonestorm</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>is a touch more melancholy than its predecessor Barnaby Twickins, however Lily's lonely life is soon cheered by a band of extraordinary pirates and an unusual friendship, as she launches a quest to find her long-lost parents. </b></span></div><div><br /></div></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lmAyG0PBGlI/Wae2IhK1eRI/AAAAAAAAL_Q/19gUjIyltR0ukSzuZtPJNplnOi-Wn1E7ACLcBGAs/s1600/art_54_02_18.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="900" height="440" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lmAyG0PBGlI/Wae2IhK1eRI/AAAAAAAAL_Q/19gUjIyltR0ukSzuZtPJNplnOi-Wn1E7ACLcBGAs/w640-h440/art_54_02_18.jpg" title="The Bay of Naples, Ivan Aivasovsky, 1841" width="640" /></a><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sF2n8nmv4PI/Wae6K2qOFYI/AAAAAAAAL_c/lJ5n8boI5kM7EBhzE1ICGwXEr0hTwsR2gCLcBGAs/s1600/13-copy2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sF2n8nmv4PI/Wae6K2qOFYI/AAAAAAAAL_c/lJ5n8boI5kM7EBhzE1ICGwXEr0hTwsR2gCLcBGAs/w400-h400/13-copy2.jpg" title="Lily's dragon tree" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Again, almost no research was needed, although I had to look up some piracy and sailing customs, things about marine life, where pineapples originated and so forth and naturally, the approximate period in which the story is set.</b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zDO8xOJ6qr0/WafPJACdMDI/AAAAAAAAL_8/QGN2n1ThvZIF1BTNA27qeANlplFIlPYnACLcBGAs/s1600/3148158_orig.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="550" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zDO8xOJ6qr0/WafPJACdMDI/AAAAAAAAL_8/QGN2n1ThvZIF1BTNA27qeANlplFIlPYnACLcBGAs/w640-h360/3148158_orig.jpg" title="real-life women pirates from the early 18th century: Anne Bonny and Mary Read" width="640" /></a><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AZswbmUtJ3k/WafS3cyRVLI/AAAAAAAAMAI/GACTCwCQUXwwu73yfKO4HcfYbUYIHheJACLcBGAs/s1600/slide_321338_3014799_free.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="541" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AZswbmUtJ3k/WafS3cyRVLI/AAAAAAAAMAI/GACTCwCQUXwwu73yfKO4HcfYbUYIHheJACLcBGAs/w270-h400/slide_321338_3014799_free.jpg" title="late 18th century ship-wig celebrating the French Revolution" width="270" /></a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibOHCKa3G88/WafnKjItRqI/AAAAAAAAMAc/7Mza-_E0rC4kqPxXlxe4DWpmOI3cSwYwQCLcBGAs/s1600/1_1_Chapter.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lily of Lonestorm" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibOHCKa3G88/WafnKjItRqI/AAAAAAAAMAc/7Mza-_E0rC4kqPxXlxe4DWpmOI3cSwYwQCLcBGAs/w640-h320/1_1_Chapter.jpg" title="Lily of Lonestorm" width="640" /></a><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The story starts with Lily on Lonestorm, her island, in the company of four fowl and a goat and enjoying occasional visits from whales and puffins.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span> </b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VvzxSZH3Bg8/WafnKBhD5MI/AAAAAAAAMAY/Wq2nsKFf9RAdqjn__6oT9A7GmHuHWXwEwCEwYBhgL/s1600/1_0_Frontespizio.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lily of Lonestorm" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VvzxSZH3Bg8/WafnKBhD5MI/AAAAAAAAMAY/Wq2nsKFf9RAdqjn__6oT9A7GmHuHWXwEwCEwYBhgL/w640-h640/1_0_Frontespizio.jpg" title="Lily of Lonestorm" width="640" /></a><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AxJkUfEHrhU/Wafq78bJBfI/AAAAAAAAMA0/52T8UOpElLcGFzXuh2yqYwCNyvmGlVUZwCLcBGAs/s1600/2_0_Chapter.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lily of Lonestorm" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AxJkUfEHrhU/Wafq78bJBfI/AAAAAAAAMA0/52T8UOpElLcGFzXuh2yqYwCNyvmGlVUZwCLcBGAs/w640-h640/2_0_Chapter.jpg" title="Lily of Lonestorm" width="640" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">Things soon change with the arrival of a strange creature with whom Lily establishes an unusual friendship; and shortly they will be on board an extraordinary sailing ship and Lily will effectively circumnavigate the globe encountering all sorts of adventures on the way.</span></b></span></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eFh7ZYaqU3c/Wafpz7ESnMI/AAAAAAAAMAo/Nr3a8HDJKLIkxTLmHTpB74Y5cQzHnB0TACLcBGAs/s1600/3_0_Chapter.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lily of Lonestorm" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eFh7ZYaqU3c/Wafpz7ESnMI/AAAAAAAAMAo/Nr3a8HDJKLIkxTLmHTpB74Y5cQzHnB0TACLcBGAs/w640-h320/3_0_Chapter.jpg" title="Lily of Lonestorm" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Lily is a story for children but I hope it appeals to all ages. Lily possesses a remarkable determination against all odds and with the quirkiest of companions, to find her parents. And bring them Home.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>"I’ve sailed the seas, I’ve seen new lands</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>I’ve explored, I’ve fought, I’ve flown,</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>But when all is said and done I think</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>My best of all place is Home."</b></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1r7CyWG8Cxo/Waf7T-8UalI/AAAAAAAAMBE/FUBUd2Gjuo4C9-aKEYD4dNwpzgVLNZXggCLcBGAs/s1600/il_570xN.187013652.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="570" height="310" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1r7CyWG8Cxo/Waf7T-8UalI/AAAAAAAAMBE/FUBUd2Gjuo4C9-aKEYD4dNwpzgVLNZXggCLcBGAs/w400-h310/il_570xN.187013652.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Lily of Lonestorm<br />Quirky illustrations by Martina Marangoni</span></b></i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AFwEWzOeYn4/Waf8Bb-xJmI/AAAAAAAAMBM/efA3hqvbaEoRRD_WiUYnc9E69Ba65hS2wCLcBGAs/s1600/white_rooster_with_hens051013.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lily of Lonestorm" border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="395" height="245" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AFwEWzOeYn4/Waf8Bb-xJmI/AAAAAAAAMBM/efA3hqvbaEoRRD_WiUYnc9E69Ba65hS2wCLcBGAs/w320-h245/white_rooster_with_hens051013.jpg" title="Bik, Bek, Bok and Crawk" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-41474462696247671302017-08-30T18:08:00.000+02:002017-10-04T18:50:13.739+02:00Will's Way<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Story of Shakespeare's Youth</span></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Spoiler Alert:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this post contains details which reveal plot elements of <i>Will's Way</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-68s8Cvlw_-A/WaUr_zV6opI/AAAAAAAAL6c/BjlUhvUAI1kkp9OW9VQZaqffOcbQxMjxACLcBGAs/s1600/8d66a44c893c8065f303a6663e9058d8.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="990" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-68s8Cvlw_-A/WaUr_zV6opI/AAAAAAAAL6c/BjlUhvUAI1kkp9OW9VQZaqffOcbQxMjxACLcBGAs/s400/8d66a44c893c8065f303a6663e9058d8.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">Cremonese School, Portrait of Young Boy, late 16th century</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A leitmotif of my stories is the evolution - and power - of the written word: from writing's beginnings as a Mystery accessible to an elite, to its controversial transformation into a tool for the many, through religious upheavals and technological advances (the invention of paper and the watermark and the revolution of the printing press) and the increasing literacy of the general population, touched on in <i>Will's Way.</i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4R9Y5C0b24A/VtHcszjAwpI/AAAAAAAAKVM/H7xo133X1B8/s1600/Shakespeare-Grafton-Portrait-1588.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4R9Y5C0b24A/VtHcszjAwpI/AAAAAAAAKVM/H7xo133X1B8/s400/Shakespeare-Grafton-Portrait-1588.jpg" title="Grafton Portrait 1588" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">William Shakespeare? The Grafton Portrait, 1588</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Shakespeare's participation in these last developments seemed the perfect basis for a new novel.<i> </i>Yet I had no intention of embarking on a story about the adult playwright. Apart from the fact that so much has already been written, </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was curious about</span></span></span></span> his childhood, his beginnings, the influences which formed him. I hoped too that such an introduction to the Bard might stimulate curiosity in young readers. </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The advent of the theatre in Shakespeare's day can be compared with movements in music and art which have inspired the youth of our era. But although </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Shakespeare is 'for all time', his language can be challenging. To meet him as child and youth, living in his turbulent but exciting age might help render him more accessible. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zFUeLdHn_0k/VtHdrRfHsgI/AAAAAAAAKVY/VFcTyi9hN_o/s1600/Sanders_portrait2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zFUeLdHn_0k/VtHdrRfHsgI/AAAAAAAAKVY/VFcTyi9hN_o/s400/Sanders_portrait2.jpg" title="Sanders Portrait 1603" width="312" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">William Shakespeare? The Sanders Portrait 1603</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Initially, my writing a novel even about Shakespeare as child and youth seemed presumptuous. I first thought to set the story in his time and place using a childhood friend to tell the tale of Will's adventures with his art, or alternatively, to portray a budding Elizabethan poet through a pseudonym and alter the setting. Yet the first was a pretext and the second missed the point. We should have the courage of our convictions: I decided to write about the real thing<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and now </span>consider it my own small homage to Will Shakespeare's life, 400 years after his death.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgFVXwUTxik/VtMZ_2umUXI/AAAAAAAAKWs/vYUfyk3ZXew/s1600/Shakespeare.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgFVXwUTxik/VtMZ_2umUXI/AAAAAAAAKWs/vYUfyk3ZXew/s400/Shakespeare.jpg" title="William Shakespeare? The Chandos Portrait, 1610" width="311" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">William Shakespeare? The Chandos Portrait 1610</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Research on the decades between 1560 and 1580 yielded a wealth of material. So much has been studied about the period, about Shakespeare's life; so much information is available on the internet; so many worthy studies, histories and papers have been published that I am constantly struck by the lament that 'we know so little about him'. It is not so: we have learnt plenty, thanks to the dogged and passionate work of researchers across the globe.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SW8Y_SsSmPw/VtHeyS11laI/AAAAAAAAKVg/UqwYUsAxrHw/s1600/shakespeare3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SW8Y_SsSmPw/VtHeyS11laI/AAAAAAAAKVg/UqwYUsAxrHw/s320/shakespeare3.jpg" title="Flower Portrait based on 1623 engraving" width="274" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Consequently<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">,</span> the perverse mystification of Shakespeare's identity seems almost delusional, as though some people think it would be more exciting if Shakespeare were someone else, someone inaccessible or high-born, or perhaps multiple people, instead of accepting all the evidence which point<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s</span> to a cautious, conservative, hardworking family man, ambitious, with a keen and at times unscrupulous business sense, a formidable memory and a breathtaking, inspired gift for words, who, to our great fortune, happened to grow up in the right place at the right time.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pT7SjgLaZTA/VtHhMTDr5kI/AAAAAAAAKVs/idJSncv9C-k/s1600/Three-unknown-Elizabethan-children-Unknown-Anglo-Netherlandish-artist-c.1580.-Privately-Owned.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="267" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pT7SjgLaZTA/VtHhMTDr5kI/AAAAAAAAKVs/idJSncv9C-k/s400/Three-unknown-Elizabethan-children-Unknown-Anglo-Netherlandish-artist-c.1580.-Privately-Owned.jpg" title="Three unknown Elizabethan children painted by Dutch artist, circa 1580" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What interested me was to explore, through fiction, the background and influences which possibly formed the provincial glovemaker's son and the subsequent routes he could have followed to become the world's favourite playwright. How he made his way. The important people and events in his childhood and youth. Naturally much is complete surmise, but it is all feasible and possible, not wildly misleading surmise. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eyIgaGUTsL4/VtMfCztbSxI/AAAAAAAAKW8/q-eoOCyKEDE/s1600/market_building_stratford1.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="303" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eyIgaGUTsL4/VtMfCztbSxI/AAAAAAAAKW8/q-eoOCyKEDE/s400/market_building_stratford1.gif" title="Stratford upon Avon" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Market <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cross, </span>Stratford upon Avon as it would have been in Shakespeare's day</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A793z1Vwq4Y/WaUyaBtbGwI/AAAAAAAAL7A/_HasOG-0p-gDoAYzl1XeE7FAW7tE1Ar6ACLcBGAs/s1600/hb_28.220.7%252C.8.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1513" height="396" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A793z1Vwq4Y/WaUyaBtbGwI/AAAAAAAAL7A/_HasOG-0p-gDoAYzl1XeE7FAW7tE1Ar6ACLcBGAs/s400/hb_28.220.7%252C.8.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Elizabethan
leather and satin gloves, from Metropolitan Museum, NY. Shakespeare's
father John was a whittawer, glovemaker, (illegal) grain and wool
dealer, borough ale taster, one-time constable, burgess, alderman and
property-owner who fell into debt and disrepute during William's
childhood.</span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Shakespeare was brought up the son of a skilled artisan, a man who for a time had some influence in his town. During John Shakespeare's moment of prominence his oldest son probably benefited from a relatively good education, was witness to plays hosted by the town corporation (guild) and participated in celebrations which took place in the area.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ur22IQxnnoo/VtXCsi5U5dI/AAAAAAAAKXs/bJtjXwZGEA0/s1600/Big-School.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="271" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ur22IQxnnoo/VtXCsi5U5dI/AAAAAAAAKXs/bJtjXwZGEA0/s400/Big-School.jpg" title="King Edward VI School, Stratford upon Avon" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">Shakespeare's Classroom</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Will lived during momentous times. What was 'sold' to us at school as the Golden Age of Elizabeth was a far darker era, riven with doubt, suspicion, disaster and above all, fear. (Hobbes was a partial contemporary of Shakespeare.) Will's own parents had lived through King Henry's break with the Catholic Church, the turbulent years that followed and Queen Elizabeth's subsequent boosting of England's place in the worl<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d</span> as well as her forceful consolidation of the Church of England. These were dark days, marked by the persecution of Catholics, suspicion, fear of conspiracy, recurrence of the plague and severe economic hardship, specially in the countryside.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GDscplr92FA/WaUxCLMT_wI/AAAAAAAAL60/De8Ws8sMxy4Zpa2IW6QDoe2CVhle149-QCLcBGAs/s1600/plague-of-london-1665-granger.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="900" height="290" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GDscplr92FA/WaUxCLMT_wI/AAAAAAAAL60/De8Ws8sMxy4Zpa2IW6QDoe2CVhle149-QCLcBGAs/s400/plague-of-london-1665-granger.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;">The
Plague in London 1665, Granger: in 1664 the year of Shakespeare's
birth, plague struck Stratford-upon-Avon. Our William survived.</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And
yet they were heady days too: publishing with the printing press was in
full swing, books and pamphlets were available like never before,
exploration to distant and exotic lands was underway and when Will was
12 the first theatre, called simply 'The Theatre', opened in London.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gEIfRWF27l8/WaUu1qnqPKI/AAAAAAAAL6o/rlcNtrBhR6ApXpCWDXKjrvwKqe1IBbqGwCLcBGAs/s1600/elizabethphoenix.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gEIfRWF27l8/WaUu1qnqPKI/AAAAAAAAL6o/rlcNtrBhR6ApXpCWDXKjrvwKqe1IBbqGwCLcBGAs/s400/elizabethphoenix.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="305" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Elizabeth
I The Phoenix Portrait, attr. Nicholas Hilliard, 1875, around the time
of the Kenilworth celebrations in her honour, described in <i>Will's Way</i></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We know that Will's mother, Mary Arden, was related to a family of minor gentry and that while Will was a child his father applied to acquire the title of gentleman and a coat-of-arms. Yet while Shakespeare was growing up, his father fell on hard times<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">:</span> his business affairs faltered, he lost his status in the community<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, </span>his ambitions were thwarted. Later when his father was near the end of his life, Will would acquire that coat-of-arms and title for his family.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iTbuqk3XArQ/VtXQxz-jKsI/AAAAAAAAKYM/u_5wS5XlpmY/s1600/crop.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="232" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iTbuqk3XArQ/VtXQxz-jKsI/AAAAAAAAKYM/u_5wS5XlpmY/s400/crop.jpg" title="Henley street house " width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Henley street house from the back garden</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus there are many interesting factual and hypothetical elements <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ava<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ilable</span></span> to build up a story depicting the trajectory of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the</span> young Shakespeare. As for romance, much has been surmised about Anne Hathaway; I chose to take a constructive approach.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S8SlJyFVpJc/WaU0-5_lRMI/AAAAAAAAL7M/wCD9JnT8_i0iIzkeUw1WFFrII2iQ5EVJgCEwYBhgL/s1600/anne_hathaways_cottage.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="590" height="270" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S8SlJyFVpJc/WaU0-5_lRMI/AAAAAAAAL7M/wCD9JnT8_i0iIzkeUw1WFFrII2iQ5EVJgCEwYBhgL/s400/anne_hathaways_cottage.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anne
Hathaway's cottage at Shottery, near Stratford. Anne receives little
credit for Shakespeare's success; my story hypothesises her importance.</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the biggest challenge in presenting a credible reconstruction of Shakespeare's childhood was speech. Apart from some vocabulary, it is impossible to reproduce the language of his day with any authenticity, and foolhardy to attempt to imitate <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">him</span>. It seemed more reasonable to quote him.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gNXDmHdGLBU/WaU_sIBr-KI/AAAAAAAAL7o/7KgToPO6V1EHnZyttHxyrE6Gzz5zE4STwCLcBGAs/s1600/hcselouswt152.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="440" height="272" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gNXDmHdGLBU/WaU_sIBr-KI/AAAAAAAAL7o/7KgToPO6V1EHnZyttHxyrE6Gzz5zE4STwCLcBGAs/s400/hcselouswt152.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Shepherd to Clown, in The Winter's Tale: <i>Prithee son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.</i>
This could quite easily have been an echo of Shakespeare's father since
his son petioned for and acquired 'gentleman' status for the family
name.</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I integrated quotations from the Works <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">into</span> the dialogue <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">o<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">f</span></span> <i>Will's Way</i>. The story contains over 160 direct and indirect (ie; adapted) quotations; this list does not even include the words, phrases and sayings used by him which have become an integral part of the English language. Most of the quotations are cited in the Glossary. However an invitation - and challenge - is extended to the reader: to resist temptation and play a game of detection, both to spot the quotes and to identify their origin in the Works.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-asqiwXpObeQ/VtXYg0ZWOII/AAAAAAAAKYo/pgrXOPBpo9A/s1600/9780198129264-us-300.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-asqiwXpObeQ/VtXYg0ZWOII/AAAAAAAAKYo/pgrXOPBpo9A/s320/9780198129264-us-300.jpg" title="The Oxford Shakespeare" width="250" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">my edition of Shakespeare's Complete Works</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ultimately I hope that the novel might intrigue and stimulate the reader to imagine Shakespeare as a child, as part of a family, as friend and sweetheart and budding young writer of great talent and ambition, born in a provincial town in straitened circumstances, finding his way in uncertain times and how the people around him may have influenced him in, and against, his dreams. Equally I hope that presenting the historical context and the personal perspective of a boy visiting London and the theatre for the first time, might help readers view the plays with a feeling for the inspiration and experience that went into their making.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oU_8mRkZCsA/VuGsOtCVKAI/AAAAAAAAKaU/5pN1iNI8kGo/s1600/Procession_of_Characters_from_Shakespeare%2527s_Plays_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oU_8mRkZCsA/VuGsOtCVKAI/AAAAAAAAKaU/5pN1iNI8kGo/s640/Procession_of_Characters_from_Shakespeare%2527s_Plays_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">procession of characters from Shakespeare's plays, circa 1840, attrib. Danile Maclise</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Will's Way </i>was a joy to research. Studying the Elizabethan age was like picking up the threads of my highschool education when, in 1970s' Australia, with colonial logic, we studied first and foremost British and European history. This anomaly notwithstanding, British history has always held a fascination, perhaps thanks to its familiarity, perhaps because I spent 8 years as a young adult in Britain, but in this case, mainly because it gave me the chance to find out so much about the life and times of our William.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xuLSwRAy-Xc/WaU2PQft7xI/AAAAAAAAL7Y/D_hEMwUKtBQ0_SWSdB1YmY4ybLslljDwACLcBGAs/s1600/out_of_copyright_visscher_view_of_london_1616.tmb-img-912.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="912" height="316" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xuLSwRAy-Xc/WaU2PQft7xI/AAAAAAAAL7Y/D_hEMwUKtBQ0_SWSdB1YmY4ybLslljDwACLcBGAs/s640/out_of_copyright_visscher_view_of_london_1616.tmb-img-912.jpg" title="Will's Way, A Story of Shakespeare's Youth" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">v<span style="font-size: small;">iew of London in 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, Visscher, held in Library of Congress</span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> *It
is interesting that when assessing literacy in a population, the
sources are usually parish records and other documents which preserve
signatures. When someone signs with a cross or other symbol it is
assumed that the person was illiterate. Yet reading is an easier (and
cheaper) skill to learn than writing and the assumption that an
inability to write implies an inability to read is flawed. It is quite
possible that many more people were<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>reading-literate than
writing-literate in the past. A point I make in the novel.</i></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></b></span></span></div>
</div>
Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-51842407336593257822013-11-20T09:20:00.001+01:002020-09-27T17:42:57.935+02:00The Adventures of Barnaby Twickins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the f</span>irst volume of the <b><br /></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Threepenny Tales</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">series: </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ze4_weT5MiI/VU46OctaQqI/AAAAAAAAJEw/Fbo0o1n1XeU/s1600/THREEPENNY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="230" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ze4_weT5MiI/VU46OctaQqI/AAAAAAAAJEw/Fbo0o1n1XeU/s400/THREEPENNY.jpg" title="Threepenny Tales" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span></b></span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">The Adventures of Barnaby Twickins</span></b></span></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">The </span></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Nonsense Adventures </span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Clowning Prodigy</span></span></i></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gqrpec0zWL8/Ujcoc74mxUI/AAAAAAAAEcw/O3bZXlPSHEA/s1600/BARNABY.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gqrpec0zWL8/Ujcoc74mxUI/AAAAAAAAEcw/O3bZXlPSHEA/s400/BARNABY.jpg" title="Barnaby Twickins" width="271" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">The first in the </span></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">THREEPENNY TALES series,</span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;"><i>The Adventures of Barnaby Twickins</i> </span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">was born of a desire for something light, </span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">after t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hree</span> serious <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">novel</span>s.</span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hMrn_8SMlys/UowYViMF0yI/AAAAAAAAFOU/7pPaOReXOCU/s1600/siftingthepast_boy-playing-cards_chardin_1740.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hMrn_8SMlys/UowYViMF0yI/AAAAAAAAFOU/7pPaOReXOCU/s400/siftingthepast_boy-playing-cards_chardin_1740.jpg" title="Boy Playing with Cards, Chardin, circa 1740" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bKSm0WKRGjg/UpacRtZjIvI/AAAAAAAAFSg/MRgrGqX9VUE/s1600/picasso+boy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bKSm0WKRGjg/UpacRtZjIvI/AAAAAAAAFSg/MRgrGqX9VUE/s400/picasso+boy.jpg" title="Paul en Arlequin, Pablo Picasso 1924" width="287" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">No research was required, except for a little inspiration from the 17th/18th centuries.</span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O8jfAL7ZLqM/Uoxv6H1F2tI/AAAAAAAAFPE/kHoP9TyqQV8/s1600/frenchfashion2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="364" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O8jfAL7ZLqM/Uoxv6H1F2tI/AAAAAAAAFPE/kHoP9TyqQV8/s640/frenchfashion2.jpg" title="Eighteenth century fashions" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--b6g6VKW8P0/Upafi1cSBPI/AAAAAAAAFSs/JdavmEeA4jA/s1600/Fritz_Beinke_-_The_juggler-_a_village_fair_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="411" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--b6g6VKW8P0/Upafi1cSBPI/AAAAAAAAFSs/JdavmEeA4jA/s640/Fritz_Beinke_-_The_juggler-_a_village_fair_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" title="Juggler: Village Fair, Fritz Beinke, 1873" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cQ31IoCORAc/Uq2xsh8YJ3I/AAAAAAAAFYI/uhvsMd74T6w/s1600/1_2_Barnaby+Babe+and+Boy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cQ31IoCORAc/Uq2xsh8YJ3I/AAAAAAAAFYI/uhvsMd74T6w/s640/1_2_Barnaby+Babe+and+Boy.jpg" title="Barnaby in Nether Sourbottom" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">It amused me to open the tale in a gloomy northern location where the only bright element was my protagonist.</span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_2oOdgem8Nc/UoF9-5wZbkI/AAAAAAAAFKM/mvpJZYjujgI/s1600/1_0_Valle+di+Slugleaden.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_2oOdgem8Nc/UoF9-5wZbkI/AAAAAAAAFKM/mvpJZYjujgI/s400/1_0_Valle+di+Slugleaden.jpg" title="Nether Sourbottom and Granglemont Castle" width="338" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">The setting changes as Barnaby makes his way south to find his place in the world; his quest will take him to exotic locations where his heart's desire is rewarded.</span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kakATxnC-vY/UoF-EiUEoNI/AAAAAAAAFKU/ZM5-wYMLXNY/s1600/2_0_Valle+di+Swankton.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kakATxnC-vY/UoF-EiUEoNI/AAAAAAAAFKU/ZM5-wYMLXNY/s400/2_0_Valle+di+Swankton.jpg" title="Swankton" width="372" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Barnaby was written for young children,but I rather hope he delights young and old. The language is a little quaint, the pace quick, the tone quirky. Barnaby brings cheer to all around him because he is an optimist undeterred by misfortune. </span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ae-l6QyERQ/UukANmV3FVI/AAAAAAAAF0c/z5odIYWnc3A/s1600/2_1_On+the+road+to+Swankton.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ae-l6QyERQ/UukANmV3FVI/AAAAAAAAF0c/z5odIYWnc3A/s1600/2_1_On+the+road+to+Swankton.jpg" title="On the Way to Swankton" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>"<i>We love to laugh, we love to smile<br />And keep our aim in view:<br />We’ll jest and jape and use our guile<br />To make the World smile too!"</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ec03JxdPxko/UpaZBN4xXYI/AAAAAAAAFSQ/9rYK4crGYQA/s1600/5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ec03JxdPxko/UpaZBN4xXYI/AAAAAAAAFSQ/9rYK4crGYQA/s400/5.jpg" title="Harlequin suit" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>The Adventures of Barnaby Twickins</i></b></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Quaint illustrations by Martina Marangoni</span></span></span><b><span style="color: #674ea7;"> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jdvy1DlPYT0/Upbpd0SaIzI/AAAAAAAAFS8/wUVYcNKJfoE/s1600/Circus_Juggling_Balls-496x329.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jdvy1DlPYT0/Upbpd0SaIzI/AAAAAAAAFS8/wUVYcNKJfoE/s320/Circus_Juggling_Balls-496x329.jpg" title="juggling balls" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ze4_weT5MiI/VU46OctaQqI/AAAAAAAAJEw/Fbo0o1n1XeU/s1600/THREEPENNY.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="230" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ze4_weT5MiI/VU46OctaQqI/AAAAAAAAJEw/Fbo0o1n1XeU/s400/THREEPENNY.jpg" title="Threepenny Tales" width="400" /></a></span></b></span></span></div>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-86731272923447833372013-10-29T18:42:00.002+01:002016-02-28T18:21:40.981+01:00Dante's Gift<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fiorenza mio amore</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SPOILER ALERT:</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">this post includes details which reveal</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">plot elements of <i>Dante's Gift </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Dove </i>was begging for</span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> a sequel; </span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">although it was not planned from the outset, </span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">it became clear while I was writing. The story </span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">did not end with the executions of the Goodmen and women and with Sibilia's escape. Others fled and carried their message abroad, the Goodmen's religion survived at least into the following century and their fate was possibly caught up with that of other persecuted groups such as the Templars. </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3s7FB8D0Ns/Umqcg_14pII/AAAAAAAAFFg/p6qongrCv4o/s1600/screen-shot-2011-10-15-at-12-08-57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3s7FB8D0Ns/Umqcg_14pII/AAAAAAAAFFg/p6qongrCv4o/s640/screen-shot-2011-10-15-at-12-08-57.jpg" title="Cathars in Carcassonne" width="632" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bonshommes being banished from Carcassonne in 1209; some of those who survived would have fled to communities in northern and central Italy</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ewIvnRtEpk/UmqdRR0y9VI/AAAAAAAAFFo/bDf-eaYakfg/s1600/catharcentres.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="395" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ewIvnRtEpk/UmqdRR0y9VI/AAAAAAAAFFo/bDf-eaYakfg/s640/catharcentres.gif" title="Catharism by any other name" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although Sibilia's mission would not be described in detail, it </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">also seemed necessary</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> to trace her legacy. There was the added temptation of transferring the sequel to Italy and Florence, and of introducing a protagonist I have revered for many years. I confess I hesitated to include him at all: it seemed impertinent at best and hubris at worst. Perhaps I have committed hubris, but it has been a great adventure doing so!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xl5jGWw7oMY/UmqfeOSPq_I/AAAAAAAAFFw/1ht6ayf3EA0/s1600/Portrait_de_Dante.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xl5jGWw7oMY/UmqfeOSPq_I/AAAAAAAAFFw/1ht6ayf3EA0/s400/Portrait_de_Dante.jpg" title="Botticelli's Dante" width="261" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sandro Botticelli's portrait of Dante Alighieri, 1495</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">My</span> fascination with the Middle Ages which probably dates to childhood<span style="font-size: large;"> readings, focused more sharply at university when I studied medieval Italian literature and first encountered </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">the <span style="font-size: large;">life and times of Dante Alighieri and his peers</span></span></span>. </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Falling in love with Florence and its history </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">was, for me, an inevitable consequence of studying under scholars of the middle ages who were <i>dantisti,</i> no less. And I had three, all very engaging.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaC_BxbUwCg/Umvu-SQ_kSI/AAAAAAAAFHg/Z3ltt13cLgE/s1600/6820174-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaC_BxbUwCg/Umvu-SQ_kSI/AAAAAAAAFHg/Z3ltt13cLgE/s320/6820174-M.jpg" title="Kenelm Foster, Dominican Friar" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BhiFgb363uU/UmrJvAM1EQI/AAAAAAAAFGY/Sk5V-VE23TU/s1600/human-vices-worth-in-dantes-comedy-patrick-boyde-paperback-cover-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BhiFgb363uU/UmrJvAM1EQI/AAAAAAAAFGY/Sk5V-VE23TU/s320/human-vices-worth-in-dantes-comedy-patrick-boyde-paperback-cover-art.jpg" title="Patrick Boyde" width="208" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lknn6P4s8o4/UmrJvEwJelI/AAAAAAAAFGo/r9pUSfP_Bu4/s1600/51BrjeZKA8L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lknn6P4s8o4/UmrJvEwJelI/AAAAAAAAFGo/r9pUSfP_Bu4/s320/51BrjeZKA8L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" title="Robin Kirkpatrick" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trips as a student to France and Italy confirmed how much of that fascinating past was, if not alive, vibrant and accessible, tucked in the layers of local culture. Art, architecture, medieval concerts, festivals and pageants kept the distant past familiar and enriched the present.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TDK2IJY2zYY/UmrNc9Sbs7I/AAAAAAAAFG8/Tgrn2Bc3DUo/s1600/medieval-band-19061799.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="285" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TDK2IJY2zYY/UmrNc9Sbs7I/AAAAAAAAFG8/Tgrn2Bc3DUo/s400/medieval-band-19061799.jpg" title="medieval music, alive and well in France, 2010" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although the Renaissance tends to be the biggest draw </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">for the visitor to Florence</span></span></span></span>, the Middle Ages unavoidably makes itself felt. After all, if it had not been for the skills and versatility of Florence's medieval craftsmen, and the ambition and success of its mercantile class, the 'Renaissance' would simply not have happened when and where it did. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JM3ppzy5UGo/Umvs9d0GRvI/AAAAAAAAFHU/TW0CS1ZxrhI/s1600/3109935871_fe7ae24057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JM3ppzy5UGo/Umvs9d0GRvI/AAAAAAAAFHU/TW0CS1ZxrhI/s640/3109935871_fe7ae24057.jpg" title="Orsanmichele stonemasons " width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;">The guild of the stonemasons sculpted on the facade of the church of Orsanmichele, Florence. Such skilled workers flourished thanks to wealthy merchant and financier patrons</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then there is the glorious architecture, from churches to secular public buildings to residences. The best of these, in my opinion, were either built or had their foundations laid in the middle ages: San Miniato al Monte, the Bargello, the Palazzo Vecchio, Orsanmichele, the Badia Fiorentina, the Baptistery of San Giovanni, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">the Duomo, </span></span></span></span>(Santa Maria del Fiore) and Giotto's belltower, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce as well as countless less famous edifices. And all those buildings house breathtaking frescoes, sculptures, carvings, artifacts which bear witness to the artistic mastery of those wealthy, turbulent years of change and creativity.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vYwUEwLmTVc/Um1BciYtj7I/AAAAAAAAFHw/EN2zMtKnRdc/s1600/florentiabest_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="482" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vYwUEwLmTVc/Um1BciYtj7I/AAAAAAAAFHw/EN2zMtKnRdc/s640/florentiabest_large.jpg" title="Florential 1342" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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1342 when this fresco of Florence was painted, the city was prosperous,
growing rapidly and attracting money and talent. Note the Baptistery,
the Badia Fiorentina, the Bargello, the city walls: all still standing today.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">This 'sequel' begins in France; the young protagonists </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">were passive players</span></span></span></span></span> in <i>The Dove</i> and must now carry out a mission of their own. The children will journey first to medieval centres in southern France, then eventually sail for Italy. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeHSJKFjAmM/Um1EX4XLxYI/AAAAAAAAFH8/gdObpnYiVpU/s1600/Rocamadour-france.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeHSJKFjAmM/Um1EX4XLxYI/AAAAAAAAFH8/gdObpnYiVpU/s640/Rocamadour-france.jpg" title="Rocamadour France" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rocamadour (my Roche Amadour): from this perspective it cannot have changed very much in 800 years</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was fun arranging for my young heroes' passage to Genoa, imagining the port city at the end of the 13th century, and thence their journey north and south until they reach the City of the Lily. As ever, the research was thrilling, a continual voyage of discovery, largely thanks to the resources of the internet. Books on life in the middle ages I have studied and used, but many snippets of information came straight from the web.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xo7Dq8KXOLE/Um1F3EVM86I/AAAAAAAAFII/A38ThKVFwAw/s1600/Nuremberg_chronicles_f_58v_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="532" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xo7Dq8KXOLE/Um1F3EVM86I/AAAAAAAAFII/A38ThKVFwAw/s640/Nuremberg_chronicles_f_58v_1.png" title="Genoa in the Middle Ages" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;">Genoa (my Genua) in a late medieval depiction; as one of the Maritime Republics it was a flourishing city at the time</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">The greatest enjoyment came from imagining and depicting Florence at the end of the 13th century, when the city was in ferment. It was a building site; a mercantile treasure chest; a crucible for arts, crafts, ideas. It was a tinderbox too, the internecine squabbles between Black and White Guelphs (formerly Guelphs and Ghibellines) magnified by the larger stresses and strains between Holy Roman Empire and Papacy. </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bXnVaAOpWYw/Um1LDYnUlxI/AAAAAAAAFIY/fLMGAjgB0NM/s1600/Paolo_Uccello_-_Battaglia_di_San_Romano_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="372" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bXnVaAOpWYw/Um1LDYnUlxI/AAAAAAAAFIY/fLMGAjgB0NM/s640/Paolo_Uccello_-_Battaglia_di_San_Romano_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" title="Paolo Uccello Battle of San Romano" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Guelphs defeated the Ghibellines at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289. This is a painting by Paolo Uccello of the Battle of San Romano, which took place almost 150 years later, but it is such a marvellous work of art, I had to include it.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">This was the period when Dante was not only still living in Florence, but was promoted briefly to an important political role, as a Prior of the city. The story had to be seen through the eyes of Sibilia's <i>grand</i>daughter because events had to coincide with Dante's last months in Florence before leaving for Rome and subsequent exile. Although </span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">for the sake of the story </span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">multiple liberties are taken, the essential elements are grounded in history and a certain chronology is respected.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rvzD4ult6yI/UmPqb1QwEgI/AAAAAAAAE_E/5mv3_10kaMk/s1600/dante-and-beatrice-henry-holiday.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rvzD4ult6yI/UmPqb1QwEgI/AAAAAAAAE_E/5mv3_10kaMk/s640/dante-and-beatrice-henry-holiday.jpg" title="Henry Holiday, 1884" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This 'romantic' painting is incompatible with its source (from inappropriate demeanour, costumes, to brick paving, cleanliness, etc.), but is </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nevertheless </span></span>evocative </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zBozcU_I-T8/Um1PnQFx_mI/AAAAAAAAFIk/JEjKeeeXG00/s1600/Dante_exile.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="" border="0" height="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zBozcU_I-T8/Um1PnQFx_mI/AAAAAAAAFIk/JEjKeeeXG00/s640/Dante_exile.jpg" title="Dante in Exile, Anonymous" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">The most exciting aspect, from my point of view, was to imagine the Supreme Poet's underlying motives for writing his masterpiece and the role my young heroes play in its execution. Hubris certainly, but worth the Fall!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsV_2qUV--Y/Um_zEcU8qEI/AAAAAAAAFI4/OKBEsv6VstI/s1600/Sandro_Botticelli_-_The_Abyss_of_Hell_-_WGA02853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="428" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsV_2qUV--Y/Um_zEcU8qEI/AAAAAAAAFI4/OKBEsv6VstI/s640/Sandro_Botticelli_-_The_Abyss_of_Hell_-_WGA02853.jpg" title="Botticelli's Abyss" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #990000;">Botticelli's Rendering of Dante's Hell, circa 1480</span></span></span></td></tr>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-88772846502979843212013-10-18T14:23:00.001+02:002016-02-28T18:25:57.120+01:00The Dove of Montségur<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Medieval Musings</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SPOILER ALERT:</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">some details in this post reveal </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">plot elements of <i>The Dove of Montségur</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although my first love </span><span style="font-size: large;">at university</span><span style="font-size: large;"> was medieval Italy, hence Dante studies, the <i>dolce stil novo</i>, the Sicilian School, the history of Florence etc., I also took a course in Provençal (today more correctly called Occitan), the language of the population of Southern France, and hence of the troubadours, the poetic ancestors of the <i>sommo poeta</i> (the 'supreme poet') Dante Alighieri. The course was dull and poorly taught, but the subject matter was intriguing, the language of the troubadours rich and exciting, seemingly a blend of Spanish, Italian and French with original elements. And the troubadours were such innovators!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ye78eemMO0/Ul6_Y-E0__I/AAAAAAAAE74/WVUJ9SVWPxo/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ye78eemMO0/Ul6_Y-E0__I/AAAAAAAAE74/WVUJ9SVWPxo/s400/hqdefault.jpg" title="Bernart de Ventadorn troubadour" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkp2GHBRUiQ" rel="nofollow"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Can vei la lauzeta mover</span></i></a> <span style="font-size: small;">'When I see the lark spread its wings'</span> <span style="font-size: small;">by Bernart de Ventadorn (circa 1145 - 1200)</span> <span style="font-size: small;">performed here by Ensemble Alla Francesca</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">My first novel,<i> Evin of the Trees</i>, is set within a broad time frame (some time in the Bronze Age) and features extensive travelling. The next story had to be more circumscribed, to deal with one episode in a restricted time and place. What better than a mountaintop fortress during a siege? R</span><span style="font-size: large;">esearch on Southern French history associated with the troubadours brought to light</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Montségur and the tragedy of the <i>bonshommes, </i>better known as Cathars. It seemed a fitting focal point.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bOb_i3SkeJY/UmAMwua9jnI/AAAAAAAAE8Y/POWZKlRiUEU/s1600/Montsegur+1+brodyaga.ru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bOb_i3SkeJY/UmAMwua9jnI/AAAAAAAAE8Y/POWZKlRiUEU/s640/Montsegur+1+brodyaga.ru.jpg" title="Montségur Fortress in Languedoc" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;">It happened here, almost 800 years ago, in what was then the County of Toulouse</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">This time, instead of basing myself on literary surmise and hypotheses, I would recount an historical episode to which I would add my own twist. Several mysteries were attached to </span><span style="font-size: large;">Montségur; it was diverting to play with these for my own ends.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8k4H7-F-ALY/UmAQDOp5WsI/AAAAAAAAE8c/PkHy2UeSvaY/s1600/il_570xN.405223972_t0c3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8k4H7-F-ALY/UmAQDOp5WsI/AAAAAAAAE8c/PkHy2UeSvaY/s400/il_570xN.405223972_t0c3.jpg" title="Cathar treasure mystery" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;">One mystery concerns the treasure the <i>bonshommes</i> were said to have secreted out of Montségur </span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then there was the ulterior motive. The first novel deals indirectly with the power of the written word and posits what may have been one of mankind's early Mysteries. The second would consider what</span><span style="font-size: large;"> the spread and conservation of the written word (and hence of knowledge) owed to </span><span style="font-size: large;">the innovation of paper-making. The manufacture of paper must have been kept hidden for a time, </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">like all trade secrets</span>.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1OvoZQ6camQ/UmAWR_JuxWI/AAAAAAAAE8s/R2AhNqzEgGY/s1600/paper_01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1OvoZQ6camQ/UmAWR_JuxWI/AAAAAAAAE8s/R2AhNqzEgGY/s400/paper_01.gif" title="the art of papermaking" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">The technique of papermaking with hemp and even flax combings was known in Europe long before the 13th century, but the innovation of making paper from linen rags took a while to be appreciated. At Fabriano, Italy, processes were developed which greatly improved both the manufacture and the quality of paper. </span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">The poor, doomed <i>bonshommes</i> dovetailed beautifully with this concept, for not only did they respect the written word, they insisted that all their adepts learn to read. This was an exceptional goal at the time. If anything the Catholic Church was glad to keep its flock in ignorance. Thus it was tempting to link the </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>bonshommes' </i>endeavour with a new technology that they could use for their own ends, to conserve and disseminate knowledge.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A_TldCbAprc/UmAdGFKZ-II/AAAAAAAAE84/FhYbO-FKp54/s1600/scribe2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="311" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A_TldCbAprc/UmAdGFKZ-II/AAAAAAAAE84/FhYbO-FKp54/s400/scribe2.gif" title="literacy in the middle ages" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">This is a scribe; yet reading as well as writing was a skill only the clergy and the elite could aspire to</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">The irony is that virtually all the <i>bonshommes</i>' documents were destroyed; the only testimony we have lies in the registers of the Inquisition which was set up specifically to eradicate the Albigensian heretics </span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">(another name for the Cathars)</span></span> in the early 13th century. It is not hard to imagine how one-sided this testimony is.</span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HncfcxjF7ws/UmEizWexvdI/AAAAAAAAE9M/qOHJzXsJsnQ/s1600/Konrad_von_Marburg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HncfcxjF7ws/UmEizWexvdI/AAAAAAAAE9M/qOHJzXsJsnQ/s400/Konrad_von_Marburg.jpg" title="detail from stained glass window Elisabeth Church, Marburg" width="335" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;">Conrad of Marburg, the first Inquisitor from the founding of the Inquisition in 1233, active in the Albigensian Crusade; another Inquisitor active at the time was Guillaume Arnaud who appears in <i>The Dove of Montségur</i></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;">Researching for Dove was another fascinating, involving task. The internet was extremely useful of course, but this time I had a vague background knowledge of medieval French literature and times. It was satisfying not only to write about a time and protagonists which had always intrigued me, but to discover more about them along the way. The beauty of writing historical novels is that you learn as you go but you have a license to deal with the facts as you will.</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sXdQcryU0YU/UmPREdfqjjI/AAAAAAAAE-0/HKITb5-UvfE/s1600/shutterstock_612305381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="351" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sXdQcryU0YU/UmPREdfqjjI/AAAAAAAAE-0/HKITb5-UvfE/s400/shutterstock_612305381.jpg" title="writing historical fiction" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;">What power at one's fingertips! To change the course of history; suggest motivation, links, undercurrents; associate one's fictitious protagonists with the Greats of the past; create a world resembling the historical one, but with wrinkles all your own!</span></span></span><br />
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-4034303259627011592013-09-28T19:19:00.000+02:002017-08-31T18:33:19.338+02:00Evin of the Trees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;"><b>The theory of a matriarchal society</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">SPOILER <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ALERT</span>: </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">this post contains details which reveal </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">some plot elements in <i>Evin of the Trees</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1r_0bBGpeE0/Uj82Og1z4iI/AAAAAAAAEqE/hJ5AXRcTzDU/s1600/OVH-Sculpture-Cyclades02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1r_0bBGpeE0/Uj82Og1z4iI/AAAAAAAAEqE/hJ5AXRcTzDU/s400/OVH-Sculpture-Cyclades02.jpg" title="sculpture from Cyclades: circa 2200 BCE" width="272" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I first came across Graves's <i>The White Goddess</i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> </i></b>in the late 70s. It is an obscure, complex work, at times confusing and alienating - those who quote in Ancient Greek without providing a translation come across as erudite yes, but also arrogant. Here is an admirable summary of his thesis from Wikipedia's entry on Ogham (pron. oyam), the alphabet of the druids:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Graves
took his inspiration from the theories of the ogham scholar R.A.S
Macalister...and elaborated on them much further. Graves proposed that
the ogham alphabet encoded a set of beliefs originating in the
Middle-east in Stone Age times, concerning the ceremonies surrounding
the worship of the Moon-goddess in her various forms. Graves' argument
is extremely complex, but in essence he argues that the Hebrews, Greeks
and Celts were all influenced by a people originating in the Aegean,
called 'the people of the sea' by the Egyptians, who spread out around
Europe in the 2nd millennium BCE, taking their religious beliefs with
them. At some early stage these teachings were encoded in alphabet form
by poets in order to pass on their worship of the goddess (as the muse
and inspiration of all poets) in a secret fashion, understandable only
to initiates. Eventually, via the druids of Gaul, this knowledge was
passed on to the poets of early Ireland and Wales. Graves therefore
looked at the tree alphabet tradition surrounding ogham and explored the
tree folklore of each of the letter names, proposing that the order of
the letters formed an ancient "seasonal calendar of tree magic".
Although his theories have been disregarded by modern scholars...they
have been taken up with enthusiasm by the neopagan movement. </i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VhYjtYBLYV0/Uj83gHDrRYI/AAAAAAAAEqQ/Eo0H5FJ6TfQ/s1600/birthday.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="504" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VhYjtYBLYV0/Uj83gHDrRYI/AAAAAAAAEqQ/Eo0H5FJ6TfQ/s640/birthday.jpg" title="Ogham tree calendar" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Far from
being a neopagan, I nevertheless found these ideas fascinating,
tantalizing and stimulating. They would make a fruitful backdrop for a
story set in a distant age when mother goddess worship flourished and a
powerful secret was born: the art of writing.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eiQJpg0WrHQ/Uj849iSKT6I/AAAAAAAAEqc/cB3UEFr_lfU/s1600/alphabet_phoenician.GIF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="526" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eiQJpg0WrHQ/Uj849iSKT6I/AAAAAAAAEqc/cB3UEFr_lfU/s640/alphabet_phoenician.GIF" title="Phoenician alphabet from 1200 BCE " width="640" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Choosing
England (Alba in the story) as the location was perverse, since few
have hypothesized mother goddess worship in the British Isles. It was
poetic licence: I wanted to explore the idea that Britain's standing
stones might have harked back beyond the druids to more ancient cults.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y0SNIa5_18/Uj85r0nRIeI/AAAAAAAAEqo/HvOvwVdal7E/s1600/avebury2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y0SNIa5_18/Uj85r0nRIeI/AAAAAAAAEqo/HvOvwVdal7E/s640/avebury2.jpg" title="standing stones, Avebury, England" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">William Stukeley's
18th century reconstruction of the ancient site at Avebury, my source for the Grove at Daraghair</span></span>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are three peoples in <i>Evin of the Trees</i>:
the Old People, the remnants of the nomadic Stone Age hunter-gatherer
tribes; the Children of the Mother, the early Bronze Age communities
living in settlements, farming and trading far afield, and linked in
some way with the Minoan civilization, but living peacefully alongside
the Old People and sharing Mother Goddess worship with them; and the
invading Sons of the Glaive, the vanguard of the middle Bronze Age
horse-riding tribes originating in eastern Europe and the steppes, the
first Indo-Europeans and worshippers of a male deity associated with the
sun.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_qQz9b4GuU/Uj9TTYhBZdI/AAAAAAAAEq4/Z_o-SdJn8ss/s1600/Solvogn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_qQz9b4GuU/Uj9TTYhBZdI/AAAAAAAAEq4/Z_o-SdJn8ss/s640/Solvogn.jpg" title="Trundholm sun chariot circa 1600 BCE" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although
there is no evidence of a Mother Goddess cult in Ancient Britain, much
less evidence that the art of writing reached Britain in the Bronze age,
it was appealing to play with these ideas. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">That ancient writing was maintained for religious, political and other purposes </span><span style="font-size: large;">as a secret art </span><span style="font-size: large;">is
not improbable; if other crafts could guard their secrets, why not
protect that of the scribe? Even the making of bread and mead w<span style="font-size: large;">ere</span> possibly sacred secrets at<span style="font-size: large;"> som</span>e time in the distant past. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5F9lsGxtO6k/UkRmt-6EJjI/AAAAAAAAErI/bNkYbnVK2vU/s1600/breads13.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5F9lsGxtO6k/UkRmt-6EJjI/AAAAAAAAErI/bNkYbnVK2vU/s400/breads13.jpg" title="bread making in Ancient Egypt" width="395" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Graves's intriguing theories reinforced the possibility<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>that writing and worship might have been linked<span style="font-size: large;">:</span> in this case, writing and go<span style="font-size: large;">ddess worship.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8hW_hLjz98g/UkRojQYrXsI/AAAAAAAAErU/Yd5o-7gE0PM/s1600/trinity-college-ireland.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="428" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8hW_hLjz98g/UkRojQYrXsI/AAAAAAAAErU/Yd5o-7gE0PM/s640/trinity-college-ireland.jpg" title="Trinity College library, Dublin" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the potential of internet research</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Months of research and note-taking ensued, an exciting time of discovery. This is the beauty of writing an historical novel, even if it is an 'alternative history': you need to do research. And with the internet burgeoning at that time it was a pleasure to explore and discover. Living in Milan rather than in an <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">English-speaking city,</span> I <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">did</span> not have the same access to books on the subjects that interested me: the internet was a treasure-chest. I was constantly astonished at the generosity of individuals, associations and institutions for sharing their knowledge and know-how.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">reconstructed roundhouse, Flag Fen, UK</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although in the final edit many of<span style="font-size: large;"> the juicy details </span>were discar<span style="font-size: large;">ded: <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was not writing a dissertation on<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> life i<span style="font-size: large;">n the <span style="font-size: large;">B<span style="font-size: large;">ronze Age but a story<span style="font-size: large;">. Yet</span> delving into the past <span style="font-size: large;">wa</span>s <span style="font-size: large;">utterly enjoyable and has been for <span style="font-size: large;">two subse<span style="font-size: large;">quent historical novels, <i>The Dove of Montségur</i><span style="font-size: large;"> and <i>Dante's Gift</i> the first set in medieval <span style="font-size: large;">Languedoc and the second in m<span style="font-size: large;">edieval Italy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618122718756231928.post-81330652480065470402013-09-17T18:45:00.001+02:002017-08-31T19:12:19.072+02:00Why write? Why e-publish? Why blog?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Disclaimer: I do not credit myself with any great talent, particular inspiration or brilliance. I simply feel the need to write. Writing adds another dimension to life. Exploring and developing ideas for a story is stimulating. Creating new worlds, or one's own version of familiar worlds, is extremely satisfying. And I love telling a story. I write stories that I would have liked to read as a child and young person. And that is almost enough.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8QqJzNHvsQ/UjmZgfOQcII/AAAAAAAAEf8/F_4EaSS9Rog/s1600/Anderson.GirlsReading.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8QqJzNHvsQ/UjmZgfOQcII/AAAAAAAAEf8/F_4EaSS9Rog/s400/Anderson.GirlsReading.sm.jpg" title="children reading stories" width="336" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">An 'ulterior motive', in the more serious narrations, is an intellectual one: to examine how knowledge has been transmitted over the centuries, particularly through language and writing, how skills we now take for granted, in the past were unknown to most and secret to a few. Whether this exploration is imagined or factual is not really the point; the former can stand for the latter in a novel.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fNXfl-ADhN4/UjmbNO3JUQI/AAAAAAAAEgM/RyYgoXN5JYQ/s1600/Book_of_Ballymote_170r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fNXfl-ADhN4/UjmbNO3JUQI/AAAAAAAAEgM/RyYgoXN5JYQ/s400/Book_of_Ballymote_170r.jpg" title="Book of Ballymote describing Celtic Tree Language or Ogham" width="250" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">As a child, like many children, I scribbled stories w<span style="font-size: large;">ithout endings</span>, little plays and of course read voraciously. After many years of dreaming about writing, without producing anything but essays for school and university, in the early 1980s an outlet presented itself through a commission for a story from an Australian educational publisher. The tale I wrote, called <i>The Bluemoon Fantastics</i>, for six to eight year olds, was published in 1982, relatively eas<span style="font-size: large;">i</span>ly, thanks to a contact. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OJgDyBGqyCI/UjmeL1G5V_I/AAAAAAAAEgY/dAOgeDrl_rg/s1600/DSCN7173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OJgDyBGqyCI/UjmeL1G5V_I/AAAAAAAAEgY/dAOgeDrl_rg/s400/DSCN7173.JPG" title="The Bluemoon Fantastics, Reading Rigby Australia, 1982" width="262" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">This first small success taught me how much an unknown writer needs to compromise. Some of my vocabulary was deemed too sophisticated for the age group I was writing for, whereas I believed - and still do - that children need to be exposed to interesting language where possible, to stimulate and encourage them verbally. Words are exciting and I have never believed in dumbing-down. Of course at the time I accepted the edits: pragmatism plays its part.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yAJLeHMkRYk/UjrSjgju-TI/AAAAAAAAEiM/mapfX_10T-0/s1600/img-thing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yAJLeHMkRYk/UjrSjgju-TI/AAAAAAAAEiM/mapfX_10T-0/s400/img-thing.jpg" title="Thanks to Lisa Gloria for this cartoon" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Subsequently I settled in Italy with my husband, started a family and soon began teaching English to children through play/craft/song/story-telling. This led to the idea of a book describing this method, which I boldly presented at the Bologna Book Fair in the late 80s. My lobbying was successful and <i>L'Inglese Con Te</i>, complete with activity sheets and cassette, was published in 1988.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bSc5hauTEMI/UjmfO8-9luI/AAAAAAAAEgk/CMCfn4ogfwA/s1600/DSCN7174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bSc5hauTEMI/UjmfO8-9luI/AAAAAAAAEgk/CMCfn4ogfwA/s400/DSCN7174.JPG" title="L'Inglese Con Te, Emme Edizioni Italia, 1988" width="286" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">The early years of family life afforded some time (I </span><span style="color: #38761d;">was pretty determined and </span><span style="color: #38761d;">was lucky enough to have an <i>au pair</i> helping me), but later, writing was set aside as work and family demanded full-time attention. So it was not until the new century that I found myself with sufficient time and mental space to start work on what had been a long-researched and pondered project. This was to be a fictional representation of some of the ideas argued in Robert Graves's <i>The White Goddess</i> which I intended as a story for young adults. The idea of a matriarchal society in bronze-age Britain was the foundation stone of the tale.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wQu74fAij-c/UjmhZxX1AOI/AAAAAAAAEg4/0VhcEqPJTFQ/s1600/DSCN7175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wQu74fAij-c/UjmhZxX1AOI/AAAAAAAAEg4/0VhcEqPJTFQ/s400/DSCN7175.JPG" title="The White Goddess Robert Graves, Faber 1977" width="245" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">The memory of committing these early ideas to my first computer is precious. I recall sitting, in the August heat, at the ping-pong table in my mother-in-law's home in Naples, feeling excited and delighted that I was finally starting on a project I had dreamt about for years. And maybe because the time was right, maybe because I had already done so much research and thinking about it, the story seemed to come out rather effortlessly.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UgPSGPqa-FM/UjmjjVNshYI/AAAAAAAAEhE/U1IjkGwm0qk/s1600/Napoli6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="404" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UgPSGPqa-FM/UjmjjVNshYI/AAAAAAAAEhE/U1IjkGwm0qk/s640/Napoli6.png" title="view of Naples and Vesuvius from Posillipo" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Not that it was easy to complete. Once back in the routine of city life<span style="font-size: large;">, </span>caught up in the demands of work and family, I had literally to carve out two or three hours per day for myself. In the mornings I insisted on not being interrupted by my co-workers; not even by the telephone. In those years there was no email to distract, nor even the mobile phone, since I refused to own one for a long time. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-50a6ZVLehO8/UjrWGO9LDQI/AAAAAAAAEiY/uiK24R7BLPU/s1600/6559057-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-50a6ZVLehO8/UjrWGO9LDQI/AAAAAAAAEiY/uiK24R7BLPU/s400/6559057-M.jpg" title="Space and Time" width="258" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Again, I was lucky: I had a place to write, a desk, a computer, two or three hours just for me; a job which allowed me this freedom; an understanding and encouraging family. For a year I was terribly disciplined (and tough with those around me). I believe it was that year of work which broke down whatever inhibitions or obstacles I had accumulated over the long period of writerly inactivity.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZocdF2z4BUk/UjrXHfFytxI/AAAAAAAAEik/yX-Lr2ue-u4/s1600/s_Block_122.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="312" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZocdF2z4BUk/UjrXHfFytxI/AAAAAAAAEik/yX-Lr2ue-u4/s320/s_Block_122.png" title="Thanks to Bill Watterson" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">For it was strange. As a student I had written constantly and found it easy enough. But after almost twenty years of raising children, teaching children and living in a foreign country I found I was rusty - very rusty. It took some time to find, not a voice, not a style, but just a way of writing that satisfied me. Words didn't come easily, I found I was repetitive, confused, flat. Dictionary and Thesaurus were my aids and </span><span style="color: #38761d;">as the story grew I found a way.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eBHdcOoa7nY/UjrZ8Tl-6OI/AAAAAAAAEiw/iUnIABC3TWE/s1600/1256787794_small-image_pablopicasso2188womanreading1935small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eBHdcOoa7nY/UjrZ8Tl-6OI/AAAAAAAAEiw/iUnIABC3TWE/s320/1256787794_small-image_pablopicasso2188womanreading1935small.jpg" title=" Picasso Woman Reading at Desk" width="249" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Many writers aim to complete a certain number of pages per day; others instead sit down and write - or not, as inspiration takes them - but work for a pre-established time. The latter was certainly the more congenial for me. I had no time-frame to stick with, no deadline but my own desire to c<span style="font-size: large;">rea</span>te a story complete with beginning, middle and end.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mJ47Aija6VE/UjrajIA0XzI/AAAAAAAAEi4/5n9zbbNP-uc/s1600/9+WOMAN+WRITING+VUILLARD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="315" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mJ47Aija6VE/UjrajIA0XzI/AAAAAAAAEi4/5n9zbbNP-uc/s400/9+WOMAN+WRITING+VUILLARD.JPG" title="Edouard Vuillard Woman Writing" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Thirteen years later I published this first story for young adults as an e-book downloadable for e-readers, or to be read on the computer or, were anyone that keen, to be printed as a pdf. The title is <i>Evin of the Trees</i>.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ApnSF8SA5OM/Ujrrod1CrGI/AAAAAAAAEjI/LoR4mkqwOMw/s1600/woman-writing-poetry1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ApnSF8SA5OM/Ujrrod1CrGI/AAAAAAAAEjI/LoR4mkqwOMw/s320/woman-writing-poetry1.jpg" title="from Pompeii" width="297" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Why did it take so long? </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span><span style="color: #38761d;">Mostly because, since the year 2000 I worked on other stories and published, as an e-book, one which reached completion sooner: <i>The Dove of Montségur </i>is<i> </i>a novel </span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #38761d;">for young adults</span> set during the repression of the Cathars in medieval France.<i> </i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ex6eh8zWkkA/Ujrs44R03PI/AAAAAAAAEjU/PUKl_nP_wrU/s1600/Carcassonne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="260" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ex6eh8zWkkA/Ujrs44R03PI/AAAAAAAAEjU/PUKl_nP_wrU/s400/Carcassonne.jpg" title="medieval Carcassonne" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I have also completed three lighthearted stories set in a mythical eighteenth century while a humorous story set in 1960s Australia is a work in progress - all these are written for six to ten year olds. The former ar<span style="font-size: large;">e awaiting illustrations<span style="font-size: large;">. </span></span>And now the sequel to <i>The Dove of Montségur </i>is almost completed. Its title<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>is<i> Dante's Gift. </i>Finally, there are new ideas in the pipeline<span style="font-size: large;"> including</span> a<span style="font-size: large;">nother hist<span style="font-size: large;">or<span style="font-size: large;">ical novel</span></span></span>, this time taking pla<span style="font-size: large;">ce</span> in E<span style="font-size: large;">l</span>izabethan England, and bedtime stories for very small children.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mZIcV5T53y4/Ujrt5jh8aoI/AAAAAAAAEjg/W6Q2RjLbOxE/s1600/Painting,Books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mZIcV5T53y4/Ujrt5jh8aoI/AAAAAAAAEjg/W6Q2RjLbOxE/s400/Painting,Books.jpg" title="Bookshelf Joni di Pirro" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Although I sent the synopsis of <i>Evin of the Trees</i>, which in those days was just in a hard copy version, to some British literary agents, (the days of </span><span style="color: #38761d;">directly </span><span style="color: #38761d;">approaching a publisher having passed), I was immediately discouraged by the lack of interest. If I couldn't even find an agent, what hope was there of ever finding a publisher? </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lHjYtFYGI/UjrufV6XVLI/AAAAAAAAEjo/2QbvNLwq2Dc/s1600/tumblr_lp2bh2nrqb1qkmwflo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="361" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lHjYtFYGI/UjrufV6XVLI/AAAAAAAAEjo/2QbvNLwq2Dc/s400/tumblr_lp2bh2nrqb1qkmwflo1_500.jpg" title="Martin Zull" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Discouraged but not dissuaded, I continued to write, realiz<span style="font-size: large;">in<span style="font-size: large;">g</span></span> that the most important thing to me was <i>completing</i> those stories with their beginnings, middles and ends. I also</span><span style="color: #38761d;"> radically </span><span style="color: #38761d;"> redrafted <i>Evin of the Trees, </i>my first work and first love as it were, reducing it from 126,000 words to about 92,000. A lot of detail in there interested me enormously, but would </span><span style="color: #38761d;">probably </span><span style="color: #38761d;"> not interest others.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j-eMDCSyBLo/Ujrw842vG0I/AAAAAAAAEj0/FzVwfCxpQls/s1600/DSCN6938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j-eMDCSyBLo/Ujrw842vG0I/AAAAAAAAEj0/FzVwfCxpQls/s400/DSCN6938.JPG" title="detail of ceiling from Castello Ursino, Frederick II's castle in Catania" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Encouraged by family, I thought to try again with a US literary agency. This time I would submit one of the humorous tales set in a fantasy eighteenth century. This might appeal more, I be<span style="font-size: large;">lieved</span>. Again, no luck, even though there was a tenuous contact involved.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6uxvvoE8WSQ/UjryrzVDc5I/AAAAAAAAEkA/UmtjzM9YZkY/s1600/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon_by_Paolo_Uccello_(Paris)_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6uxvvoE8WSQ/UjryrzVDc5I/AAAAAAAAEkA/UmtjzM9YZkY/s400/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon_by_Paolo_Uccello_(Paris)_01.jpg" title="Saint George and the Dragon, Paolo Uccello" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">It is not inconceivable that I am a rotten writer; my stories are tedious or badly written; their subject matter is inappropriate for children; my style is antiquated; I cannot draw characters; my plots are flimsy. All these doubts have assailed me. It could also be that I haven't tried hard enough to sell them.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qrZawlhw_4w/Ujr0GcroQpI/AAAAAAAAEkM/Gwk7TyMZSsw/s1600/5879194_f248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="280" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qrZawlhw_4w/Ujr0GcroQpI/AAAAAAAAEkM/Gwk7TyMZSsw/s320/5879194_f248.jpg" title="good writing?" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">But when I am feeling more confident I conclude that, above all, I do not write for the times. I write for myself; what I like may not coincide with what publishers (or agents) are looking for these days. My style can be quite literary, vaguely erudite, even the humorous stories don't pull verbal punches and employ a slightly ironic, deliberately quaint style. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xs-VJWcny5s/Ujr2Qq-bFZI/AAAAAAAAEkY/UrdUy8undYA/s1600/the_ballooning_game_with_illus_hi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xs-VJWcny5s/Ujr2Qq-bFZI/AAAAAAAAEkY/UrdUy8undYA/s400/the_ballooning_game_with_illus_hi.jpg" title="The Ballooning Game, French School 1784" width="345" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Someone remarked that I ought to try writing a version of <i>The Hunger Games </i>which are so popular<i>.</i> I couldn't think of anything worse or more alien. Pragmatic I may be, but not to the point of selling my soul!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--0r3EI-JAew/UjmlxockoqI/AAAAAAAAEhQ/lylZ85bKyx4/s1600/faust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="306" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--0r3EI-JAew/UjmlxockoqI/AAAAAAAAEhQ/lylZ85bKyx4/s320/faust.jpg" title="Faust" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">So I resign myself to self-publishing, not because I have ambitions to sell my stories, (although that would be fun, because it would mean that someone wanted to read them), but because publishing is the final act; it is closing one work before starting another; it is feeling, yes, that is done, that is achieved, now we move on.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DrRglC2we-k/Ujr5mkj3adI/AAAAAAAAEks/qArpQyH_Cgk/s1600/DSCN7176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DrRglC2we-k/Ujr5mkj3adI/AAAAAAAAEks/qArpQyH_Cgk/s400/DSCN7176.JPG" title="Evin of the Trees" width="281" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Why the blog? </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Because it's a novel way of recording one's own thoughts and ideas. Because one hopes someone else might be interested in a writer's motives, thoughts about writing in general and my writing in particular. And because it seems only logical, given the extraordinary communicative tools now at our disposal, to complement publication with discussion and possibly exchange.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KeuDaZpA3s/Ujr7F2sTiQI/AAAAAAAAEk4/0i-Xk8PaiQE/s1600/sidney-harris-one-person-getting-on-train-with-cell-phone-says-i-m-getting-on-the-trai-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KeuDaZpA3s/Ujr7F2sTiQI/AAAAAAAAEk4/0i-Xk8PaiQE/s400/sidney-harris-one-person-getting-on-train-with-cell-phone-says-i-m-getting-on-the-trai-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg" title="Sidney Harris, New Yorker" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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Upupa Epopshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12364421353747257006noreply@blogger.com0