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Hello and welcome to Hear This. I'm Frances Keyland, and you're listening to the Vision Australia Library radio show, where we talk about books in the Vision Australia library collection. And today we've got a bit of a variety of books with samples, and including a sample of the latest and much waited-on Alex Smith book Praiseworthy. Did anybody happen to attend the online event? Alexis Wright in conversation on the 25th of March? That was between 1 and 2 p.m., and it was the first of the Vision Australia Libraries in Conversation events for 2024. Wright is the only author to win both the Myles Franklin Award in 2007 for Carpentaria and the Stellar Prize in 2018 for tracker. And her latest novel, Praiseworthy, received the Queensland Literary Award for fiction in 2023.
And exciting news is that Praiseworthy, her latest novel is In the Library now, and this novel has been nominated for the Dublin Literary Award, which is a very prestigious award ceremony, and also the James Tate Award. Let's hear a sample now of praiseworthy. I'll read the synopsis.
In a small town dominated by a haze cloud, which heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of the ancestors, a crazed visionary seeks out donkeys as a solution to the global climate crisis and the economic dependency of the Aboriginal people. His wife seeks solace from his madness in following the dance of butterflies, and scouring the internet to find out how she can seek repatriation for her aboriginal Chinese family to China. One of their sons, called Aboriginal sovereignty, is determined to commit suicide. The other, Tommy Hawk, wishes his brother dead so he can pursue his dream of becoming white and powerful. This is a novel which pushes allegory and language to its limits, a cry of outrage against oppression and disadvantage, and a fable for the end of days. Let's hear a sample of Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright. It's narrated by Jackie Katona.
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Oh, my. Oh, my. Any people could say this was exactly what happens when the world of unreality strikes. Like a piece of lightning colliding with misconstrued fact after fact and forcing country lines apart, bolting this way and that, becoming an entangled knot, blurring the light. Ah! Watch out! Get the hell out of the way! There were plenty of these uppity upper class people of praiseworthy super people living in the ark with the loudest mouths for saying that the sun only shone here alone, while crying out for someone to go out there in the bad lands of the continent and get some help from the white government. They wanted fast help to get rid of the sulky haze, which was full of broken ancestors breathing on them with virus air from who knows where else. Stop all this happening. Things like that, from that hazard haze parking itself on top of them.
Think about it. You expect people to be pretty jacked off in the head with having a haze sit on top of them and weighing down their lives. And this was the reason why lots of the local people were community minded enough to march straight out of these story riddled houses to get involved in the campaign, to fight the atmosphere. They were not going to be governed by some jacked off spirit acting completely crazy. It reminded them too much of life itself. One old elder found some inappropriate white collar music on the deck, a label which he used to assimilate into the mind of local thinking about the Anthropocene, the man made disaster of the world.
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And that was Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright. Alexis is spelt [spells author's name] and that book goes for a long 37 hours. Fingers crossed that Alexis Wright wins the prestigious Dublin Literary Award.
Another author that's on the shortlist as one of the six books that's on the shortlist is Sebastian Barry and his book Old Gods Time. Retired policeman Tom Kettle is enjoying the quiet of his new home, a lean to next to a white Victorian castle in Dalkey, overlooking the sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, but his peace is interrupted when two former colleagues turn up at his door to ask questions about a decades old case, a traumatic case which Tom never quite came to terms with. His piece is further disturbed by a young mother and family who move in next door, a woman on the run from her own troubles. And what of Tom's family? His wife June, and their two children? Laodicea. A sample of Old Gods Time by Sebastian Barry. It's narrated by Stephen Hogan.
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Sometime in the 60s. Old Mr. Tumulty had put up an incongruous lean to addition to his Victorian castle. It was a granny flat of modest size, but with some nice touches befitting a putative relative. The carpentry at least was excellent, and one wall was encased in something called beauty board, its veneer capturing light and mutating it into soft brown darknesses. This premises with its little echoing bedroom, its tiny entrance hall, a few hundred books still in their boxes and as two old gun cases from his army days was where Tom kettle had, in his own words, washed up.
The books, remembering if sometimes these days he did not his old interests. The history of Palestine, of Malaya. Old Irish legends, discarded gods, a dozen random matters that at one time or another, he had stuck his inquisitive nose into the stirring sound of the sea below the picture window had been the initial allure, but everything about the place pleased him. The mock Gothic architecture, including the pointless constellation on the roof line, the square of hedges and the garden that provided a windbreak and a sun trap, the broken granite jetties on the shoreline, the island skulking in the near distance, even the crumbling sewerage pipes sticking out into the water. The placid tidal pools reminded him of the easily fascinated child he once had been 60 years ago, the distant calling of today's children playing in their invisible gardens, giving a sort of vaguely tormenting counterpoint. Vague torment was his forte, he thought.
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That was Old Gods Time by Sebastian Barry Sebastian is spelled [spells author's name]. That book goes for 8.5 hours. We have other books by Sebastian Barry in the collection. He's an Irish novelist, playwright and poet, and he's been twice shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long, Long Way, from 2005 and The Secret Scripture from 2008. Old Gods Time is his 11th novel in The Guardian in 2020 3rd February 2023 reviewer Declan Ryan finishes the review by saying ultimately, Old Gods Time isn't at times woozy. Rendering of unstable memories and the difficulty in telling your story as it disappears in quotes into old gods time, as well as a tribute to enduring love and its ability to light up the dark.
And while we're on that side of the world, there is another Ann Cleves book - Ann Cleves, of course, very famous for her wonderful Vera series, and also the Shetland series. This is one from another series, and it's part one of the Inspector Maybury books. Who hanged the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Halloween party? Almost everyone in Hepburn either hated or feared the viper-tongued Harold Milburn. Inspector Ramsay is convinced it was the headmaster's enigmatic wife, but Jack Robson, school governor and caretaker, is determined to prove her innocence. With the help of his restless, enthusiastic daughter Patty, Jack digs into the secrets of Hepburn and uncovers a cesspit of lies, adultery, blackmail and madness. Let's hear a sample of a Lesson in Dying by Anne Cleeves, part one in the Inspector Ramsay series, and it's narrated by Simon Mattox.
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But one time you could see 15 working mines from Hepburn churchyard. Now the nearest pit was miles away, to the north, beyond the horizon, and only the chimneys of Blythe Power Station spoilt the impression of rural beauty. To the east, farmland sloped down to the sea, the clean sweep of ploughed fields broken by the wooded valley which followed the burn to the coast, and the houses of Hepburn village. The sea was blue, almost purple. The tower of the old Saint Mary's Island Lighthouse was clear and white in the sunshine. Jack Robson put a bunch of chrysanthemums on his wife's grave. He had come with flowers every week since she had died two years before. The school and the church stood together on the hill, and as he straightened, he heard children singing we plough the fields and scatter. The Northumberland voices shortened the consonants and lightened the vowels.
Jack Robson had sung the same hymn in exactly the same way more than 50 years before, in Hepburn's school. He thought he'd wasted his time there. It seemed to him now that he'd been a dull and unimaginative boy. There had been no dreams, no ambition. It had never occurred to him that he might move away from south east Northumberland, and during national service he thought of nothing but coming home. People said that the mind grew slower as it got older, but he thought his brain was sharper now than it had ever been. With his retirement from the pit. He had begun to read voraciously, as some children do, and became immersed especially in history and biography. He found he could understand what he read, that he even occasionally had the courage to disagree with the opinions expressed. The new confidence was noticed by other people. He'd been a habitual member of the local Labour Party for years. His father had been a great activist and it was expected.
More recently, he'd been asked to stand for the local council and now as Councillor Robson, he represented Hepburn on Keppel Valley District Council.
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That was a sample of A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleves. Ann, there's no e on the end. [spells name]. So as well as the Vera Stanhope series and the Shetland Island Mysteries. And you've got the Inspector Ramsay series as well. And there are six books in the library of that series.
And now to Montezuma's Revenge. This is a book by Harry Harrison. When the voice of authority calls, Tony Hawkin assumes there is a glitch. After all, why would the nation possibly require the services of a man who runs the gift shop in the FBI building? But there's no mistake. And soon Tony finds himself in the middle of Mexico, pursued by a ruthless killer and hot on the trail of a priceless work of art. He has to find the painting, determine its authenticity, and return it safely to Washington. There's only one problem everybody wants this particular painting. Now. Tony must summon all his wits and courage to outsmart the forces of international espionage. Tracking down the painting was easy. Escaping the clutches of the KGB, the Mafia and Mossad is more than he bargained for.
And then there's the man, the one with a predilection for guns and sharp knives. Suddenly, all Tony can think of is the warm comfort of his shop in DC and the sound of small voices. Hey, mister, how much for the chocolate handcuffs? Will he ever see those little faces again? Let's hear a sample of Montezuma's Revenge by Harry Harrison. It's narrated by Louis Moreno.
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From a pigeon's eye view. And there are pigeons enough in our nation's capital. Fed and fat from tourist popcorn and sandwich crusts. The National Gallery looked just as it always has done white marble, domed and impressive, a suitable repository for the finest art from all over the world, displayed for the pleasure of the American citizenry. Here, the sweat soaked Sons of Kansas and California, Texas and Maine sought welcome relief from the steam bath heat and shattering glare of a Washington summer, wallowing in wide eyed wonder before the fleshy expanses of the Rubens matrons shuffling, glazed eyed past the exuberance of the Impressionists. While all of this time they were unaware of the human drama being played out in their midst. If their attention had not been elsewhere, they might have noticed him standing to one side in the book an art shop, a man with a decidedly worried expression that kept slipping back to his face no matter how he tried to dispel it with a professional smile.
He was thin, of medium height, tanned and jet haired, his nose slightly too large for his face, although he was not un handsome for all of it. His smoothly pressed suit was beige and unassuming, his neatly knotted tie of an austere tone. He stood erect yet at ease with his hands clasped behind him, master of all he surveyed, which was indeed the case. Mr. Hawken, a rounded pink sort of girl said, trotting up to him with a thick book extended before her. A gentleman wants this, but there's no price in it. Master Drawings of Degas, second edition, 895 plus tax. She thanked him breathlessly, impressed by this feat of total recall. Eyes swimming mostly like fish behind their thick lenses and hurried back to her customer.
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And that was Montezuma's Revenge by Harry Harrison. Harry Harrison was very famous for his science fiction books. There are two parts to this series, though in the library. So there is a second book in the Hawken series, and I'm reading from Wikipedia here. His novel Make Room, Make Room, which was published in 1966, was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green, made in 1973, and that book is in the library. During the 1950s and 60s, he was the main writer of the Flash Gordon newspaper strip. He was closely associated for a time with Brian Aldous, and they collaborated together in a series of projects. In his middle years, Harrison became an advocate of Esperanto, that international language, saying he could write and speak it with an automatic ease.
I have never been able to capture in any language other than my native English, and the language often appears in his novels, particularly in his Stainless Steel Rat and Death World series, and he did pass away in 2012, and fellow science fiction author Harlan Ellison said it's a day without stars in it. The Stainless Steel Rat is also in the library collection. This was published in 1961, and in that first of the Stainless Steel Rat series, we meet Slippery Jim degrees cosmic criminal, the smoothest sneakiest con man in the known universe. He can take any bank in the galaxy, con a captain out of his ship, start a war, or stop one, whichever pays the most. So when the law finally catches up with the stainless steel rat, there's only one thing to do. Make him a cop. Turn him loose on a villainous lady who was building her own battleship.
So he does veer into what would be considered space opera type books, but he had a quirky sense of humor and also was very anti-authoritarian, uh, very scathing towards, um, political authority. And while he never won any great awards, or he did win in 2008 the Golden Rosco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction because he became a cult hero in Russia. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004 as well, and the Stainless Steel Rat series is also available in the library. Maybe one to try for if you're going to be part of the treat yourself navigating the literary cosmos.
And it's a good time to plug that event, which is happening on the 15th of April. So there's still a fair bit of time two and a half weeks, and that's in going from 2:00 till 3:00. In Vision Australia, it's an online event, and the event description is ignite your imagination and blast off into the future. As Treat Your Shelf explores the frontiers of sci fi, speculative and dystopian fiction, come and share your favorites. From the classics to newer releases, the library team will all that also discuss the best of the genre available in the library, and it adds tinfoil hats are optional. For more information, just phone the library or you can send them an email and and you and they can walk you through registering your attendance for that event.
Now to top selling author David Baldacci with a little bit of suspense and his book Split Second, it was only a split second. But that's all it took for Secret Service agent Sean King's attention to wander and his protectee third party presidential candidate Clyde Ritter, to die. King retired from the service in disgrace and now, eight years later, balances careers as a lawyer and a part time deputy sheriff in a small Virginia town. Then he hears the news once again. A third party candidate has been taken out of the presidential race, abducted right under the nose of Secret Service agent Michelle Maxwell. King and Maxwell form an uneasy alliance, and their search for answers becomes a bid for redemption as they delve into the government witness protection program and the mysterious past of Clyde Ritter's dead assassin. But the truth is never quite what it seems, and these two agents have learned that even one moment looking in the wrong direction can be deadly. Let's hear a sample of Split Second. This is part one in the Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series, and it's narrated by Noel Hodder.
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September 1996. It took only a split second, although the Secret Service agent Sean King, it seemed like the longest split second ever. They were on the campaign trail at a nondescript hotel meet and greet. In a place so far out, you almost had to use a satellite phone to reach the boonies. Standing behind his protectee, King scanned the crowd. While his ear mic buzzed sporadically with unremarkable information. It was muggy in the large room, filled with excited people waving elect Clyde Ritter pennants. There were more than a few infants being thrust toward the smiling candidate. King hated this because the babies could so easily shield a gun until it was too late. Yet the little ones just kept coming, and Clyde kissed them all, and ulcers seemed to form in King's belly as he observed this potentially dangerous spectacle.
The crowd drew closer, right up to the velvet rope stanchions that had been placed as a line in the sand. In response, King moved closer to Ritter. The palm of his outstretched hand rested lightly on the candidate's sweaty coat, loose back so that he could pull him down in an instant if something happened. He couldn't very well stand in front of the man, for the candidate belonged to the people. Ritter's routine never varied. Shake hands, wave, smile. Nail a sound bite in time for the 6:00 news. Then pucker up and kiss a fat baby. And all the time. King silently watched the crowd, keeping his hand on Ritter's soaked shirt and looking for threats. Someone called out from the rear of the space. Ritter answered the jive back with his own bit of humor, and the crowd laughed good naturedly. Or at least most did. There were people here who hated Ritter, and all he stood for.
Faces didn't lie, not for those trained to read them. And King could read a face as well as he could shoot a gun. That's what he spent all his working life doing, reading the hearts and souls of men and women through their eyes, their physical tics.
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That was Split Second part one in the Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series by David Baldacci. David is [spells name]. That book goes for 11 hours. It comes under the categories of Literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers, and Politics and Government. And there are many, many books by David Baldacci in the collection The Shawn King and Michelle Maxwell books. There are six of those in the series in the library, but also there's so many others by David Baldacci, the Amos Decker series, the Camel Club series. Um, he's a prolific writer, and you know what you get with him? Excitement, suspense, political intrigue, spying. An author who knows his audience and is able to write a really good thriller.
And now to one of the most intriguing books that was ever published, I would say a series, It's My Brilliant Friend, by the pseudonymous Italian novelist known as Elena Ferrante, but nobody knows her real name. My Brilliant Friend is the first in the four Neapolitan novels that were written, published between 2011 and 2015. They tell the life story of two perceptive and intelligent girls, Lila and Luna, born in Naples in 1944, who try to create lives for themselves within a violent and stultifying culture. This is a rich, intense and generous hearted story about two friends who represent the story of a nation and the nature of friendship.
The story begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets, the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else as they grow and as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge. Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change through the lives of these two women. Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that in turn also transform the relationship between her protagonists. Let's hear a sample of part one of the Neapolitan novels, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. It's narrated by Hilary Huber.
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This morning, Reno telephoned. I thought he wanted money again, and I was ready to say no. But that was not the reason for the phone call. His mother was gone. Since when? Since two weeks ago. And you're calling me now? My tone must have seemed hostile. Even though I wasn't angry or offended, there was just a touch of sarcasm. He tried to respond, but he did so in an awkward, muddled way, half in dialect, half in Italian. He said he was sure that his mother was wandering around Naples as usual. Even at night. You know how she is. I do, but does two weeks of absence seem normal? Yes. You haven't seen her for a while, Elaina. She's gotten worse. She's never sleepy. She comes in, goes out, does what she likes.
Anyway, in the end, he had started to get worried. He had asked everyone made the rounds of the hospitals. He had even gone to the police. Nothing. His mother wasn't anywhere. What a good son. A large man, 40 years old, who hadn't worked in his life, just a small time crook and spendthrift. I could imagine how carefully he had done his searching. Not at all. He had no brain, and in his heart he had only himself. She's not with you? He asked suddenly. His mother here in Turin. He knew the situation perfectly well. He was speaking only to speak. Yes. He liked to travel. He had come to my house at least a dozen times without being invited. His mother, whom I would have welcomed with pleasure, had never left Naples in her life.
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That was part one of the Neapolitan novels, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Ferrante is [spells name]. And that book goes for 12 hours and 38 minutes. In 2019, The Guardian ranked My Brilliant Friend the 11th best book since 2000. I remember reading years ago, I think when I first, um, had a sample of the book on the show. Naples. The area where the book was set is, um, the neighborhood they grew up in was traditionally not a particularly pretty part of Naples, or one that tourists went to. But since the book, the streets have become a popular tourist attraction. Um, even though they're not that attractive, and there's even a Ferrante pizza that you can now buy, and the area that the neighborhood is set in largely is a working class area east of central Naples, somewhat isolated from the rest of the city. And it was built during the fascist period. And it's four storey apartment buildings are typical of that era's architecture.
Thank you so much for joining us on here this. I hope you enjoyed the show. My name is Francis y, and thank you to everybody who has listened to the show and give such lovely feedback. I really do appreciate it. If you would like to contact the library and join up, or if you would like to offer some feedback about their books, or find out exactly what books are in the library, you may be surprised. There's over well over 40,000 books now in audio as well as magazines newspapers. So explore the catalogue or get the library to do it for you. You can call them on one (300) 654-6568 one 306 54656, or you can email library at Vision Australia - dot - Org. That's library@visionaustralia.org ... Have a lovely week and we'll be back next week with more Hear This. Oh, and a happy Easter to all celebrate and keep safe over the break.
