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Maggie finds a park under the canopy of a Jacaranda tree. She pulls on the handbrake and swivels in her seat. ‘All good?’  He nods, noting that one of Mark and Janine’s guests has left the side gate to their property ajar. He also sees William from the cricket club taking on the steep driveway carrying a carton of beer with exaggerated care. He knows William will keep this up until someone notices. Social overcompensation. ‘Please don’t interrogate anybody tonight, Brendan.’ Maggie’s tone is light, he knows she’s only half joking. ‘I won’t.’ Maggie reaches out and strokes his arm. ‘Can you get the eskyRead More →

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Who is she grateful for? Lily, of course…   1. Lily.  Josh could’ve chosen someone less agreeable. Jen doesn’t write that. It’s not what she means and not nice to Lily who is marvellous. 2. Dr McGuire. She has to give it him. He’s wonderful with the elderly, being almost elderly himself. And he lets her run the reception and the books the way she wants to. 3. Ally. Her dear sister, so much bravado. So supportive. Jen flushes with goodwill. 4. Mum. How can one not be grateful for one’s mother?  Delivering Joshua is the hardest thing Jen has done, but Bradley was there, holding her hand and offering his smallRead More →

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I’ve been thinking about my reading habits.  I’ve always had this thing about reading a book twice.  I know people who will read a book over and over.  My daughter is one of them.  Every time a new Harry Potter book or movie was released, she would read the previous books again and in the right order.  She said it was so everything was fresh in her mind.  It makes perfect sense, except for the time it takes.  I just couldn’t do it.  My brain would seize as soon as the story became familiar.  I couldn’t say, I know this already and it’s okay.  IRead More →

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I’ve just finished a short story course with Australian writer, Patrick Holland, and throughout I read some amazing stories.  I’ve always had a fondness for the short story, perhaps because, they are distilled.  They stay with me, long after I’ve finished them.  They are kinder to the memory than the novel.    During the course we read from Ernest Hemingway, Anton Chekov, Margaret Atwood, Rudyard Kipling, Jorge Luis Borges, Tobias Wolff, Graham Greene, Patrick Holland, Yasunari Kawabata and Raymond Chandler and it was wonderful.  Whether it was the sense of place in works like Greene’s, Across the Bridge, the use of dialogue and sparseness in Hemingway’s,Read More →