My great grandfather Patrick McGrath was born at Finnahy in Tipperary and was baptized at the church in Upperchurch on the 19 Jul 1848. He was the eldest son and fifth child of Thomas McGrath and Mary Ryan. In 1853, when Patrick was five, the family left Ireland and migrated to Australia. For the first … Continue reading Irish Heritage – Patrick McGrath (1848-1911)
Words, Proverbs and Meanings
The meanings of words change over time. Awful began as a shortening for 'full of awe', in other words, inspiring wonder or fear. It has mutated to now be a tired word for something unpleasant. Although changing, on occasions a word will retain something of its original meaning. Elope was first used to described a … Continue reading Words, Proverbs and Meanings
Book Review – New Boy : Othello Retold by Tracy Chevalier
This retelling of Othello (part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series of contemporary retellings) is set in a suburban Washington elementary school in the 1970s. When Osei, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat, arrives in the all white school, he immediately finds a friend in the popular and pretty Dee, but his arrival upsets the balance … Continue reading Book Review – New Boy : Othello Retold by Tracy Chevalier
Hilary Mantel’s Reith Lectures 2017
In the Reith Lectures this year Hilary Mantel discusses what is at the heart of good historical fiction, our relationship with the past, and the central elements in a historical novelist's attempt to bring the past alive for us today. As Mantel herself says 'The reason you must stick by the truth is that it … Continue reading Hilary Mantel’s Reith Lectures 2017
Book Review – A Writing Life: Helen Garner and her Work by Bernadette Brennan
Helen Garner is one of Australia's best loved writers. Her first novel Monkey Grip was published in 1977 and since then she has published further novels, short stories, full length non-fiction works, screenplays, as well as numerous essays, articles and newspaper columns. A Writing Life: Helen Garner and her Work (2017) by Bernadette Brennan is … Continue reading Book Review – A Writing Life: Helen Garner and her Work by Bernadette Brennan
Book Review – The Golden Age by Joan London
The Golden Age is a Perth convalescent hospital for children recovering from poliomyelitis. Under the care of dedicated nurses and physiotherapists, the children are taught to use their limbs again and to gain the independence necessary for their return to the outside world. In this nurturing environment, cut off from their familiar lives with family … Continue reading Book Review – The Golden Age by Joan London
My Reading – June 2017
Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore The Golden Age by Joan London The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
Book Review – Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore begins and ends with short chapters set in the present. The story proper commences in 1789 with a man burying a woman’s body in an isolated glade in the fading darkness before sunrise. Three years on Lizzie Fawkes begins her story - she is newly married to widower, John Diner … Continue reading Book Review – Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
Irish Heritage – Thomas McGrath of Finnahy
Upperchurch, Tipperary, Ireland The parents of my maternal grandfather, John Daniel ‘Jack’ McGrath (1887-1971), were both born in Ireland. Jack’s mother, Margaret Ryan, was born at Drumgoole, Kilkenny in 1851 and migrated to Australia around 1869. His father, Patrick McGrath, was five and a half when his family arrived in Melbourne, Victoria in 1854. Patrick … Continue reading Irish Heritage – Thomas McGrath of Finnahy
Book Review – The Muse by Jessie Burton
This dual narrative novel begins in London in 1967 with Odelle Bastien, a young woman from Trinidad who works in a shoe shop while nursing the dream of being a writer. When Odelle finds a new job as a typist at the Skelton Institute, an upmarket art gallery, she is encouraged in her ambitions by … Continue reading Book Review – The Muse by Jessie Burton
Catherine Meyrick 