The Scholl Case - Interview with journalist Anja Reich-Osang

The Scholl Case:
The Deadly End of a Marriage
Anja Reich-Osang

On a cold December morning in 2011, a woman's body is found in a forest near Berlin, hidden between tall trees under dry leaves and moss. She has been strangled in cold blood. The victim's husband, Heinrich Scholl, is devastated. He is well respected in the community, a former mayor, and had been happily married-or so it seemed-for almost fifty years. Three weeks later he is arrested, and after an eighteen-month trial is sentenced to life. To this day he pleads not guilty.

Can this charming, courteous man possibly be a killer? Journalist Anja Reich-Osang followed the case from its beginning and talked to family, friends and Heinrich Scholl himself. She tells an utterly gripping story of marriage, sex and politics, in which nothing is as it seems.

ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— The fascinating thing about this book is how it draws you into the lives of the couple at the centre, the Scholls. Well structured, it begins with the last day of Brigitte Scholl’s life in 2011 and the subsequent arrest of her husband Heinrich Scholl, before rewinding 50 years to when they first met in the East German town of Ludwigsfelde. Reich-Osang, herself originally from East Germany, sets out the less than desirable manner in which Heinrich and Brigitte came to be married. From there the pattern of their lives unfolds.

The ‘can do’ abilities of ‘Heiner’ inspire admiration as he achieves in his various jobs (at one time he was a circus manager) and eventually becomes Mayor of Ludwigsfelde, a position he held for 18 years. Likewise, the strength and certainties of 'Gitti' who was the proprietor of a beautician boutique with a loyal customer base. As the book proceeds, however, we begin to see the flip-sides of these character traits. Yet despite the grim end to Brigitte’s life, this is not especially dark or depressing to read. The prose and tone that Reich-Osang strikes makes this much more a revealing examination around the foibles of lives and the hidden side to an otherwise success story.

The other aspect that is so interesting in this story is the setting, straddling the creation of East Germany and then the fall, with glimpses into life behind the Wall and after. The case caused a sensation in Germany at the time. The prologue reveals the tug-of-war mind games that the journalist/author has with the character of Heinrich Scholl, who is still serving time for the murder and steadfastly sticking to his claim of innocence. Did he do it? Over to you…

Craig Kirchner
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INTERVIEW

I spoke with journalist Anja Reich-Osang about the married couple at the centre of this tragedy and about the writing of her book.

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Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street (next to QVB) Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers

Notes from Eve Abbey ~ November 2016

A.S.Patric’s novel Black Rock White City has won the Miles Franklin 2016 Award.

The author is not only a writer but also a bookseller. He works at one of the Readings Bookshops in Melbourne. This is his first novel and fits well into the guidelines of the Miles Franklin Award in that the story concerns refugees from Sarajevo.

Jovan and his wife Suzana might have been university lecturers at home but now, in Melbourne, Jovan is an indispensable cleaner in a hospital and Suzana does domestic cleaning. They still maintain their Croatian identities even amongst their friends who also come from the Balkans.

The book is an interesting look into the multicultural suburbia of our main cities. Many readers expected The Natural Way of Things to win the award but this novel illustrates a different community, which is a nice change.

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I’ve discovered another new writer, in the crime genre. Jock Serong is an ex-lawyer now living in rural Victoria whose first novel Quota won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel last year. The story is set in a seaside country town where abalone fishing is the main industry – that’s where the title Quota comes from! Someone is trucking the excess abalone up to Melbourne to sell under cover. There has been a murder on a trawler and small town rivalries are clouding the picture. There is eventually a trial at the Supreme Court and this is where Serong’s ease in writing dialogue comes to the fore. Justice is shown to be fickle but the conclusion is very satisfactory.

I did first read The Rules of Backyard Cricket, which involves betting on cricket matches as well as the rivalry between two brothers. One becomes Australian Cricket Captain and the other is the showy Australian Representative, always hitting the headlines as well as the long balls. I really loved both these books. They are the sort of books which you are reluctant to finish. More please! Text Publishing has done a great job with these books – the cover for The Rules of Backyard Cricket certainly pulls you in.

The Whole Wild World is a memoir by long-time Sydney journalist Tom Dusevic and Croatian migrants are again in focus. It is good to read about the efforts of new arrivals – sharing houses and helping each other. I’m sure many people will identify with these memories as well as the schoolyard adventures and teenage angst. Recommended. The title comes from mishearing the saying “the whole wide world”.

I read in The Australian recently that yet another translation of Cervantes’ Don Quixote has been donated to the Cervantes Collection held in the Mitchell Library’s Friends Room. There are more than a thousand different editions and translations in the collection which was begun by Dr. Ben Haneman. The room is open Tuesdays from 10am to 4pm. The new addition is in Gurani, the native tongue in Paraguay, delivered in person by the Ambassador. I was moved to see how many different editions were available at Abbey’s Bookshop. Over eighty editions of Don Quixote are listed but when I filtered this to show only the titles in stock the answer was five. But five very interesting choices. The Penguin Classic edition has the famous introduction by John Rutherford, the Vintage edition has an introduction by Harold Bloom, while the Canterbury Classic edition is an especially nice production. But what about these….? Little Master Cervantes is a board book for babies, illustrated and with simple text in Spanish and English. Or from Restless Classics, there is a special deluxe edition for the 400th anniversary with woodcut illustrations and access to a series of video lectures discussing the work.

I had very great pleasure reading the surprise hit of the year which is The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District by James Rebanks. The author is a shepherd on a small farm on one of the fells. He is the third generation and appreciates the traditions and compromises that have to be made.

He chooses to carry Herdwick sheep, one of the old breeds. His description of the various tasks he must do will certainly stop you thinking that a farmer has lots of time. He absolutely loves and admires his sheep. His description of the lambing season and the tricks of the trade when “showing” his sheep at the annual fair are wonderful.

He wasn’t interested in education when he went to school but in his early twenties, after reading many books, he gained entrance to Oxford University where he did well. However, he always wanted to return to the farm and has managed to find enough outside employment so that he and his family can earn enough to continue farming.

Beatrix Potter’s legacy gains an admiring mention. A biography of Beatrix Potter, Over the Hills and Far Away: The Life of Beatrix Potter is out now. A lovely edition including some of her own illustrations. As well as a variety of Peter Rabbit stories in the children’s section , we have some in either Italian or French upstairs in Language Book Centre.

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On Thursday November 24th there will be a book launch at Abbey’s for the memoir written by my cousin Naida Haxton, A.M. The book is called Res Gestae: Things Done and will be launched by David Jackson A.M. Q.C. Naida was the first female to practice at the Queensland Bar. If you are interested in things legal you are welcome to join us.

BOOK LAUNCH

Thursday 24 November
6PM for 6.30PM
Free Event • RSVP ESSENTIAL
02 9264 3111 or davidh@abbeys.com.au

Keep well,

Eve

Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers

Notes from Eve Abbey ~ September 2016

Hogarth Press, the publishing company founded by Virginia and Leonard Woolf, has a new project: to have some of the plays by Shakespeare retold by current bestselling authors.

Shakespeare himself was not averse to borrowing stories and hopefully this idea will prompt readers to look again at the well-known plays. I’ve just finished my first one which is Anne Tyler’s retelling of The Taming of the Shrew called Vinegar Girl.

My oh my! This is a perfect little book - well produced (just look at the front and back covers) and very amusing. I laughed out loud.

It is about a strong-willed nursery school teacher who is pushed into the arms of the Russian assisting her demanding father in his long-term research. Father wants him to stay even though his residency permit is about to expire and Father can’t see why daughter Kate shouldn’t marry him in order to keep him in America. There is of course a precocious younger sister eyeing off her possible boyfriends. Anne Tyler’s books are always good and this one is very funny. Laugh out loud funny. We need more of this!

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I am now going to read Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time, which is retelling The Winter’s Tale. A friend tells me this is very good. Margaret Atwood’s version of The Tempest called Hag Seed and Howard Jacobson’s retelling of The Merchant of Venice which is Shylock is My Name are next. There are four more titles in the pipeline: Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear. I’ll alert you when they arrive.

Ian McEwan’s new novel has just arrived into the shop. It is called Nutshell and features a world-weary foetus commenting on the actions of his mother and her lover, who is also his uncle. They are named Trudy and Claude and they are plotting to kill his father. I immediately thought it must be the next title in the Hogarth series which will be Hamlet. But no! Gillian Flynn is down to produce the Hamlet re-write. Meanwhile Ian McEwan is enjoying himself having a long rant on the problems in modern society. Very enjoyable. He got into a bit of trouble about this.

I always enjoy memoirs and can recommend The May Beetles: My First Twenty Years by Baba Schwartz.
Baba spent a happy childhood in a small town in Hungary, part of a substantial Jewish community. By the late thirties this happy life was shattered as the whole family, father and mother and three daughters, is shipped off in crowded trains to Auschwitz.The remainder of the book describes their sufferings and lucky escapes.

These day-to-day accounts show how people just got by in the mass of Displaced Persons at the end of Second World War. Father is lost forever but Mother and girls do survive and return to their town where all their possessions have been taken by supposedly friendly neighbours. Soon they sail off to Israel before finally migrating to Australia.

Although I have read many holocaust memoirs I found this one especially interesting and well written.

Father Edmund Campion has been writing small biographies of Catholic personages for many years and you can read some in Australian Catholic Lives, which is a sort of history of the church in Australia. A history of the people, not the Bishops. He has now written Swifty: A Life of Yvonne Swift whose work as Principal of Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart and later as head of Sancta Sophia College in the University of Sydney is well-known to generations of students. She was much concerned about social justice and in mid-life decided to train as a lawyer. She set up her own office with another lawyer, finally in Chippendale, where she defended many notorious Sydney criminals. The small book contains many admiring messages from students and friends. I think there will be many who will enjoy this.

I set off eagerly to read a new biography of Evelyn Waugh by Philip Eade called Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited. I did feel the need later to read a more full biography such as the one by Selina Hastings but it seems this is now out of print. A Life Revisited is packed full of gossip, ranging from schoolboy adventures, undergraduate indiscretions and too much detail on flirtations and drinking. Nonetheless it is very amusing, chiefly in the direct quotes from Evelyn’s own diaries and letters.

It was good to get clear the fate of Shevelyn, his first unsuccessful wife (also called Evelyn) and the future success of wife number two, Laura, mother of his six children. Coincidentally Nancy Mitford was the flatmate of Shevelyn, and it is through this connection that Waugh began his legendary friendship with Mitford and also Lady Diana Cooper.

His first book, Vile Bodies, was such a tremendous success Waugh was taken up by “society” and able to indulge his fondness for witty insults, while collecting great material for his next black comedy.

His father, Arthur Waugh, was a director of Chapman and Hall, who published all Evelyn’s books except the first one. They were more than happy to do so seeing the copyright for their most important author, Charles Dickens, was about to expire. Evelyn turned out to be not only a terrific novelist but also a very savvy author who was able to turn his talents to journalism, essays and travel pieces. His many overseas adventures were funded by his publishers and the success of his satiric novels, while the success of Brideshead Revisited made him quite a rich man. At one time in his middle age it all became too much for him and while on a cruise to the Mediterranean, as he himself noted, he became “absolutely mad. Clean off my onion”.

This story is told in The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, his last comic novel. His wartime adventures, with like-minded soldiers such as Randolph Churchill, formed the basis for the three novels which are now published together as the Sword of Honour Trilogy. One special favourite of mine is The Loved One, which he wrote after a visit to California to investigate the possibility of a film to be made of Brideshead Revisited. That never happened, only the marvellous TV version starring Claire Bloom and Jeremy Irons.

The Loved One was Evelyn’s satire on the American Way of Death as practiced at the Whispering Glades Memorial Park (not to be confused with Jessica Mitford’s American Way of Death. This best seller was reissued in 2000 as American Way of Death Revisited). I think it is time for another dose of Evelyn Waugh. You will find most of his novels in stock at Abbey’s. 

Check the website. Enjoy re-reading the backlist.

Keep well,

Eve

Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers

Australian National Dictionary Second Edition ~ Book Launch

BOOK LAUNCH
Join us for a lively chat around the richness, history and humour of Australian English.

To mark the occasion of the publication of the second edition of the Australian National Dictionary, Lindy Jones will host a scintillating panel discussion at Abbey's Bookshop 131 York Street Sydney.

Lindy Jones is an Abbey's bookseller, a current member of the judging panel of the Miles Franklin Literary Award and Abbey's most prolific book reviewer!

Bruce Moore is the editor of this second edition and the former Director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre.

Dr Amanda Laugesen is the current Director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre.

Kel Richards is a radio broadcaster and author of The Story of Australian English - a man with a broad and deep interest in the Australian vernacular.

Thursday 8 September
6 PM
Abbey's Bookshop
131 York street, Sydney
Free Event • RSVP ESSENTIAL

RSVP: events@abbeys.com.au

A unique lexical map of Australian history & culture.

The Australian National Dictionary is a dictionary of Australianisms. The first edition of the dictionary was published in 1988 and contained around 10,000 headwords, compounds, idioms and derivatives. In this second edition the dictionary now contains over 16,000.

It includes words and meanings that have originated in Australia, that have a greater currency within Australia than elsewhere, or that have a special significance in Australian history. They include historical terms from the convict era, the gold rushes, farming, and the experience of war, colloquial terms, including rhyming slang and numerous lively and colourful idioms, regional terms from different states and territories terms from Aboriginal English, a major dialect of Australian English.

The Australian National Dictionary differs from general dictionaries in being based on historical principles, in the manner of the comprehensive Oxford English Dictionary.

The aim of this second edition is to chart the historical development of Australian words - the definitions begin with the oldest sense and move through to the most recent sense. As part of this history, it includes all obsolete words and all obsolete senses; because it is concerned with the complete history of a word, the historical dictionary places more emphasis on the etymology of a word than does the general dictionary.

There is detailed information on the origins of these Australian words, including comprehensive coverage of more than 550 words that have been borrowed from 100 Aboriginal languages. Quotations from books, newspapers, diaries, etc., show how words have been used over time. More than 123,000 quotations illustrate the entries.

New entries cover all aspects of Australian life, history, culture, and values, as indicated by this brief list:

ambo, barbecue stopper, bogan, budgie smugglers, bunny rug, captain's pick, chiko roll, chook lit, chroming, copha, corkie, couldn't run a chook raffle, do a Bradbury, drop bear, fairy bread, firie, goon bag, grommet, hip-pocket nerve, hornbag, humidicrib, karak, land of the fair go, marn grook, negative gearing, not happy Jan, pizzling, reg grundies, schmick, schoolies' week, seachanger, secret women's business, shirt-front, skippy, songline, spunk rat, trackie daks, ute muster, welcome to country.

The Australian National Dictionary is the only comprehensive, historically based record of the words and meanings that make up Australian English. It is a unique lexical map of Australian history and culture.

This beautifully produced edition is an absolutely wonderful enrichment to any Australian home filled with books and the love of reading.

Limited Edition: Slipcase Edition (sold out)

The Story of Australian English

Australian radio broadcaster Kel Richards has an ongoing fascination with the Australian vernacular, with books such as Kel Richards' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and Kel Richards' Wordwatch and also with his children's books and in years past has had many chats about books on his radio shows with Eve Abbey.

In this book Kel Richards tells the story (with a lively narrative) of the birth, rise and triumphant progress of the colourful dingo lingo that we know today as Aussie English.

The English language arrived in Australia with the first motley bunch of European settlers on 26 January 1788. Today there is clearly a distinctive Australian regional dialect with its own place among the global family of 'Englishes'. How did this come about? Where did the distinctive pattern, accent, and verbal inventions that make up Aussie English come from?

Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street (next to QVB) Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers

Abbey's Bookseller Picks ~ Book Reviews from 131 York Street

"Compelling and bittersweet"

Music and Freedom
Zoë Morrison

On an orange orchard in rural Australia, from age three Alice Murray has been learning to play the piano. When her talents are soon recognised, Alice’s mother sends her to boarding school in England. As doors open and opportunities present themselves, Alice continues her musical education abroad all the while trying to reconcile her deep yearning to return home to her mother, with her dream of becoming a concert pianist. It’s during her time spent in a musical summer program at Oxford that she meets Edward, an intriguing, seemingly worldly economics professor. What she believes to be a powerful love, Alice soon realises is a harrowing force threatening to destroy and isolate her from the sanctuary of her music.

This compelling, bittersweet novel is a beautiful exploration of the transcendental nature of music and the restorative powers of love. In later years, as music once again makes its way into Alice’s life, she begins to realise that resurrection is never an impossibility, and that what is broken can, with a little faith and determination, be mended. Lyrical and intelligent in its style, this book will stay with you well after you have turned the last page.

Jessica Slade
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"Suspense and humour"

The House at the Edge of Night
Catherine Banner

I am sure this writer will be compared to Louis de Bernieres but to me she has produced a truly original story and written it in a straightforward style of her own. Off the coast of Italy lies the island of Castellamare, remote, old fashioned and almost untouched by monumental events happening elsewhere in the world. But, change is inevitable and will bring both happiness and despair to the inhabitants of this small and rocky outpost. It’s a long book but a real ‘page-turner’ and has suspense and humour in every chapter.

Peter Smith
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"An absolute treasure"

Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea
Teffi

Every now and then you are fortunate enough to come across an author that you know you will be re-reading long into your golden years, and to that short but cherished list I now introduce Teffi. What a discovery! It only took a few chapters of her modern voice, charm and intelligent observation to wholeheartedly win me over.

A Russian writer from the early twentieth century, she was so widely read that she could count both Lenin and Nicholas II as avid readers. Only recently translated for English speaking audiences, her autobiographical account of leaving revolutionary Russia and her uncertain journey as a refugee is a timely release.

The journey itself is at times so distressing that it is a testament to her character and naturally humorous disposition that can still make you laugh. This book was an absolute treasure to me, as is Teffi herself, and I am so delighted to have discovered her!

Sian McNabney
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"Witty and literary"

Black Teeth
Zane Lovitt

Four oddball loners become entwined in a very strange and novel situation. Revenge and murder, and very enjoyable as the layers gradually peel away to reveal tragic truths. Witty and literary, Zane Lovitt’s writing pops with youthful invention and has that irresistible pull as to what happens next. 

Jason Ginaff goes by many names. This is due in part to his hyper-vigilant attitude to privacy and also to his consulting work, utilising his keen skills in accessing information online about corporate job candidates to unearth embarrassing or compromising stuff they’d forgotten or thought they’d deleted. He’s an accomplished liar.

Jason has also been seeking out the father he never knew. And now he’s found him - former Detective Glen Tyan, known as ‘The Polygraph’ for his ability to suss out a liar.

Rudy Alamein is a man-child whose stunted development arose from the tragic murder of his mother thirteen years ago, for which his father was incarcerated. Rudy wants Detective Glen Tyan dead.

And then there’s Elizabeth.  

As the day of reckoning draws nearer, some very intriguing aspects about the murder of Cheryl Alamein are unearthed.

When I finished reading this, I kind of wished I was starting out again. Very, very enjoyable. I’ll be seeking out Lovitt's debut, The Midnight Promise (Winner: Best First Fiction - NED KELLY AWARDS 2013), and anything else he cares to write.

Craig Kirchner
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"A thoughtful book"

The Bone Sparrow
Zana Fraillon

Subhi is of Rohingya descent, but he was born in Australia. Unfortunately, he was born in a detention camp, where he has spent his whole life. By nature he is optimistic and good-natured, though little in his external circumstances could be said to be hopeful - his mother is withdrawing from life, his older sister is either angry or contemptuous, his father still hasn't made it to Australia, the camp has little in the way of resources.

Yet Subhi is attracted to stories and they to him - the most powerful is the Night Sea, and the wondrous creatures and gifts it contains keep him  hopeful. Then one night Jimmie, who lives beyond the fence, makes her way over it and meets Subhi.

An unlikely friendship develops as they exchange stories. Jimmie is struggling with the loss of her Mum and the absence of her father, and poverty and neglect are part of her life, but together Subhi and Jimmie discover the true power of storytelling… A thoughtful book along the lines of Morris Gleitzman's novels.

Lindy Jones
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"Brilliant"

Small Town Talk: Bob Dylan, the Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & Friends in Woodstock
Barney Hoskyns

Hoskyn's new book is about the artistic/bohemian community of Woodstock, from its beginnings in the early 1900's and its peak during the 60's and how Dylan embraced it, then abandoned what was once an isolated, artistic community but soon turned into a tourist haven. Brilliant.

Greg Waldron
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Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street (next to QVB) Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers

Notes from Eve Abbey ~ August 2016

There is a splendid book in the New Releases which will interest all our legal eagle customers and others interested in politics and law.

By Ian Hancock, an Editorial Fellow of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, and published by Federation Press, it is Tom Hughes QC: A Cab on the Rank.

There is a great portrait of him on the cover backing up the description “a lion of the Law”. A meticulous account of Tom’s childhood and his time in England as a Sunderland Pilot during the Second World War is followed by an even more meticulous account of the very many important cases Tom Hughes ran during his long period at the bar from 1952 to 2012 plus tales of political in-fighting when Hughes was Federal Attorney General. His 90th birthday was celebrated by the Bar Association in 2013. “He may be the last of the traditional barrister class but on his own he could draw a crowd, persuade a jury and ensure that judges paid attention”. Of course his other claim to fame is that he is Lucy’s father and thus father-in-law to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

An unusual Australian biography is Our Man Elsewhere: In Search of Alan Moorehead by Thornton McCamish. I say unusual because it also includes the activities and reactions of the author who has indeed set out to remind us of a famous Australian author who seems to have gone out of fashion. Alan Moorehead was a journalist par excellence. His first big success was the book he wrote about Gallipoli, reissued recently for the centenary of that battle. He was a famous war correspondent and then later took to travel writing.

He led a very cosmopolitan life, friendly with Hemingway and other writers of the period. Although he did write a few novels they were never the success of his travel stories. Who can forget The White Nile and then The Blue Nile, both with wonderful illustrations in large glossy paperbacks? There was a sad end to his life when he suffered a major stroke which left him unable to speak or write. Today his daughter, Caroline Moorehead, carries on his tradition of finding good true stories to tell-such as Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France and A Train in Winter: A Story of Resistance, Friendship and Survival at Auschwitz, or Priam’s Gold: Schliemann and the Lost Treasures of Troy, as well as a biography of Freya Stark.

If you like true story adventures we have just the book for you. It is The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Churchill’s Mavericks Plotting Hitler’s Defeat by Giles Milton. Despite the real seriousness of these activities, which did indeed help defeat Hitler and the Nazis, I think the people involved, mostly men with double-hyphenated names, with very good mathematical minds, had the time of their lives. They blew up the vital dry dock at St. Nazaire which kept the dangerous warship Tirpitz out of the Atlantic; they blew up viaducts and railways; they parachuted behind the lines and linked up with Partisans, they invented and manufactured all sorts of tricky bombs and special detonators; they worked sixteen hour days and celebrated hard afterwards.
They certainly had Churchill’s gleeful support. A good thing that Giles Milton has written this book so their names won’t be forgotten. Milton’s forte is fossicking around in the sidelines of history to find exciting overlooked adventurers. His most famous book is Nathaniel’s Nutmeg about how Britain came to own New York and lots of other things. A few of his other titles are White Gold, Russian Roulette, Fascinating Footnotes from History and Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922. All of them are entertaining.

I’ve just read a terrific crime novel called The Dry: A Desperate Act in a Small Town with Big Secrets. It is by Melbourne journalist Jane Harper. It is a gripping story, as the title suggests. I hope she will write another one soon. This is a perfect description of a country town sweltering in the heat and trying to decide just who was actually the shooter.

I’ve also taken up the crime stories by Lesley Thomson, in a series called The Detective’s Daughter. These are set in the suburbs of London which are carefully described. Lesley is now referred to as “firmly established as one of our leading crime writers”, so I am pleased for her. Years ago she stayed with me in Manly when she first travelled to Australia. She began her first book sitting under my jacaranda tree. The books are very intelligent and credible. There are four in the series now – the last two are The Detective’s Secret and The House with No Rooms.

Keep well,

Eve

Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers