Showing posts with label Liz Byrski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liz Byrski. Show all posts

27 February 2022

Review: REMEMBER ME, Liz Byrski

  • This edition on Kindle (Amazon)
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00LZ5OYJC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fremantle Press; 2nd edition (August 1, 2010)
  • Originally published 2000
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 329 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

Separated from her true love at the age of 18, Liz dreamt of the day he would return to marry her, but fate had other plans. 

Thirty-seven years later, Liz answers the telephone to hear a voice from the past that still has the power to stop her in her tracks. A true story of love lost and found, this personal memoir journeys across continents and decades to relate the details of the couple's original love affair and their reunion years later. Poignant and romantic, this story is a testament to the extraordinary powers of the heart. 

My Take

You will have realised from the above descriptor that this is a departure from my usual crime fiction,

I did not realise until I had nearly finished the book that this is a memoir, written hot on the heels of the author's reunion with Karl Heinz 37 years after they first met. By this time they had both been in other marriages, and the book ends just after their reunion.

Plenty of discussion points in the book. Was their original separation on the grounds that Liz was too young for marriage a valid one? What chance did their reunion have after they had spent so long apart, and had so many experiences that were not shared?

My rating: 4.4

Ive also read

4.5, MONTH OF SUNDAYS
5.0, THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR 

12 November 2019

Review: THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR, Liz Byrski

  • this edition published in 2016 by Pan Macmillan (Read How you Want)
  • ISBN 978-1-52522-793-6
  • 530 pages
  • source: my local library
Synopsis (author website)

Over the years, the residents of Emerald Street have become more than just neighbours, they have built lasting friendships over a drink and chat on their back verandahs.

Now a new chapter begins with the children having left home. Helen and Dennis have moved from their high maintenance family property to an apartment by the river with all the mod cons. For Joyce and Mac, the empty nest has Joyce craving a new challenge, while Mac fancies retirement on the south coast.

Meanwhile Polly embarks on a surprising long-distance relationship. But she worries about her friend next door. Stella’s erratic behaviour is starting to resemble something much more serious than endearing eccentricity…

My Take

First of all, blog follower, let me point out that this is not crime fiction.

It is in fact the second novel I've read by this remarkable writer who just seems to hit the spot for me. So many of the scenarios that she uses in this novel resonate with me.

I think when I was young, the people that I knew in their 60s and 70s all seemed at the end of their lives. I never thought of them as embarking on the next stage of life. They had had hard lives, compared with us, and I don't suppose many of them had so many years to go. Things are different now.

Our street, indeed our suburb, is going through something similar to what happens in Emerald Street. People are moving out, houses are being demolished, blocks sub-divided, apartments being built. Those of us left are well into retirement and things have changed for good, and not necessarily for the better.

This is a well constructed, well written book. To use the words of one of the characters, the scenarios feel very "authentic."

I have enjoyed it very much.

My rating: 5.0

I've also read
4.5, A MONTH OF SUNDAYS

21 October 2019

Review: A MONTH OF SUNDAYS, Liz Byrski

  • this edition published by Pan Macmillan Australia 2018
  • ISBN 978-1-74353-494-6
  • 343 pages
  • source: my local library
Synopsis (author website)

For over ten years, Ros, Adele, Judy and Simone have been in an online book club, but they have never met face to face. Until now…

Determined to enjoy her imminent retirement, Adele invites her fellow bibliophiles to help her house-sit in the Blue Mountains. It’s a tantalising opportunity to spend a month walking in the fresh air, napping by the fire and, of course, reading and talking about books.

But these aren’t just any books: each member has been asked to choose a book which will teach the others more about her. And with each woman facing a crossroads in her life, it turns out there’s a lot for them to learn, not just about their fellow book-clubbers, but also about themselves.

A Month of Sundays reminds us of the joy, the comfort and the occasional challenge we can find in the pages of a book.

My take

Please note: another book that isn't crime fiction!
And one that I really enjoyed.

Each of the women in the online book group is facing some sort of crisis. Three of them are retired, but they all jump at the chance to meet up and discuss books after over 10 years online. They have met before only through Skype and so they don't really know each other.

I loved the way we got to learn about each of these women as well as share in their book discussions.
Their discussions, by the way, were very different to what happens at the books clubs I attend, where we take a rather cursory look at the book and then move quickly on.

For those who'd like to explore this book further the author has kindly provided starting points on her website.

This book came highly recommended and I certainly intend to read another by Liz Byrski.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Liz Byrski is a writer and broadcaster with more than 50 years experience in the British and Australian media. She is the author of thirteen non-fiction books and ten novels, and her work has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines.

In the nineties Liz was a broadcaster and executive producer with ABC Radio in Perth and later an advisor to a minister in the Western Australian State Government; she has a PhD on the subject of feminist popular fiction, and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University.

Liz was born in London and spent most of her childhood in Sussex. As an only child she spent a lot of time alone, much of it buried in books. She began her working life at 16, as a secretary, and later moved into journalism working as a reporter on a local newspaper, until she took up freelance writing when her children were born.

Liz emigrated to Australia with her family in 1981 and worked as a freelance journalist/writer in Perth writing for a variety of publications including The Australian, New Idea, Homes and Living, Cosmopolitan, the Australian Financial Review, The Woman Writer, and The West Australian.  For several years she was a broadcaster with ABC Radio 720 6WF, where she was best known for hosting The Grapevine program with Peter Holland.

Liz lives between Perth and Fremantle and in addition to enjoying the company of family and friends, she spends most of her free time reading, writing and walking.   She has two adult sons and twin grandsons.

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