The Grapevine

January 1979 in a suburb of Canberra. It is another hot summer and the residents of Warrah Place are feeling the heat. Then a man's foot is found in the bush nearby. The foot is recognised as belonging to one of the residents, Antonio.

As the police investigate what happened to Antonio the secrets of the residents are revealed. This is a community where everyone wants to know their neighbours' business. The novel also provides an overview of life in Canberra in 1979, especially the life of women. Attitudes to migrants who have recently arrived in Australia is also a focus of the novel. Life and attitudes in the 1970s were very different from today.

Twelve year old Tammy is determined to find out what happened to Antonio but she is not always successful. Meanwhile as the police investigation continues, the relationships of many of the inhabitants of Warrah Place begin to disintegrate.

The Grapevine by Kate Kemp, although a crime / mystery novel is very much a study of relationships and prejudices in a closed community. 

The Grapevine - review by Sally Nimon.

The Land of Dreams: How Australians won their Freedom 1788-1860

Recently I did the Future Learn course, Peterloo to the Pankhursts: Radicalism and Reform in the 19th Century, examining British politics from the end of the 1700s to 1918 when male suffrage was finally achieved.  This course covered the period when the convicts were sent to Australia, looked at revolutions in America and France, England's relations with Ireland, the development of democracy  plus the campaign for political reform, particularly the suffrage campaigns. During the course references were made to political reforms in Australia such as the secret ballot and suffrage campaigns which enabled Australians the right to vote before their relatives in England.

The Land of Dreams by David Kemp looks at the political movements occurring in England during the nineteenth century and their influence on the foundation of the new colony and its management. It investigates how Australians gained the right for self governance and developed solutions to political problems in their own way gaining their own political identity.

The nineteenth century was a time of political change in England as workers banded together to express their need for improved working conditions, increased pay and the right to vote. It was a time when there were movements to improve working conditions, particularly in factories, abolish Britain's involvement in the slave trade, reform parliament creating representation for all men.

Kemp looks at the development of liberal thinking and reform that occurred during the nineteenth century in both England and Australia. Developments in England impacted on Australia however in this country changes affecting employment and political conditions occurred earlier than in England. The movement to create an independent country rather than being a colony of the Britain helped accelerate these changes.

The Land of Dreams is volume one in a proposed five volume series Australian Liberalism. Volume two, A Free Country: Australia's Search for Utopia 1861-1901, was published in April 2019 and describes the challenges of creating one nation from a group of colonies. Three more books are planned for this series which greatly adds to the understanding of the development of Australia into the country that it is today. Detailed notes, biliography and index provided at the end of each volume.