Other People's Words

In 2001, Other People's Words:the life and times of an accidental publisher by Hiliary McPhee was published. Twenty-five years later the story of the author's experiences in the world of publishing has been republished with some additional material.

After working in publishing for a number of years, in 1975 Hiliary McPhee and Dianna Gribble decided to form their own publishing company, McPhee and Gribble. Other People's Words tells of the experiences and challenges faced by the two women as they tried to make their way in the male dominated world of publishing. Another major problem was trying to break into overseas markets which, especially in Britain, were not interested in Australian authors and books.

The first project was publishing a series of non-fiction books for children. Gradually they were able to attract authors of adult fiction and non-fiction to publish their books. Hiliary McPhee spent much of her time convincing overseas publishers to work with them promoting Australian publications and authors overseas.

Other People's Words describes the work involved in editing a book and gaining the confidence of some authors especially when changes needed to be made. McPhee and Gribble had partnerships with other publishes until 1989 when they decided to try working on their own. However the timing was not good due to the economic downturn resulting in the business being sold to Penguin Books. For two years the McPhee Gribble logo still appeared on the books with the Penguin logo. 

The new chapter at the back of the book warns of the changes AI is making to the publishing industry.

Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them

Australian writer, Susannah Fullerton, has compiled a book about seventeen authors whose lives have been ruled by cats and / or have included cats in their books. 

The authors include: Dr Johnson and his cat Hodge, Horace Walpole and his cat Selima, Robert Southey and the cat Rumpelstilzchen, Andre Dumas and his cat Mysouff I, Eward Lear and Foss, Charles Dickens and Bob, Mark Twain and Bambino, Collette and La Chatte, L M Montgomery and Daffy, Sir Winston Churchill and his cat Nelson, Ernest Hemingway and Boise, Margaret Mitchell and Old Timer, Dorothy L Sayers and Blitz, Paul Gallico and Sambo, Dame Muriel Sparks and Bluebell, Doris Less and Magnifico, plus Dame Lynley Dodd and her cat Wooskit. The authors often owned many cats but the book concentrates on one special cat for each writer.

At the end of most chapters there is a section called Paws For Thought with information about other cats and their owners. The chapters in Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them contain illustrations of cats by Susie Foster. Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them is a book for cat lovers as well as for lovers of literature.

On Not Climbing Mountains

An Australian woman travels to Switzerland to visit the country where her father, who has recently died, was born. She explores the country by train following suggestions from a copy of an old Baedeker guide and during her travels reflects on lives and works of a variety of authors, playwrights, actors, artists, explorers and others associated with Switzerland over the years. The daughter also remembers an exhibition that she once saw of a series of paintings by Jean-Frédéric Schnyder (JFS) of railway station waiting rooms  throughout Switzerland. She describes the paintings relevant to the railway stations as her journey progresses.

On Not Climbing Mountains by Clair Thomas does not really have a plot though the daughter's reminiscences develop into a pattern during the journey allowing the reader to gradually learn about the daughter's memories and relationship with her father. Once I became used to the style of the writing I enjoyed reading about the lives of  people involved with Switzerland in different ways as well as the experience and thoughts of the daughter as her journey progressed until she returned home.

Swiss Baedeker guides - Hidden Europe 

Art of Jean-Frédéric Schnyder (part VI Waiting Rooms for the Eyes) - On Schnyderian Art

 Jean-Frédéric Schnyder Waiting Room exhibition  - Mamco art exhibition

On Not Climbing Mountains - The Guardian 27 February 2026. 

The Cat Who Saved Books

Rintaro Natsuki became the new owner of the second-hand bookshop, Natsuki Books, after the death  of his grandfather. The original plan was that he would go and live with an aunt but that plan changed after he met Tiger, a talking cat. The cat was on a mission and needed help to save books that were being destroyed. This led to Rintaro, Tiger and later Sayo to journey through four labyrinths to save books.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa explores the importance of books in the lives of individuals and how reading can open up new worlds for us to explore. As Rintaro travels on the expeditions he comes to understand himself better and what his future should be. He also learns more about the importance of books.

Statements about books and reading (pages 195-197) include:

Books have tremendous power.

Books can give us knowledge, wisdom, values, a view of the world ... the joy of learning something you didn't know before and seeing things in a whole new light. Books teach us how to care about others.

Books are filled with human thoughts and feelings ... we learn about the hearts and minds of other people besides ourselves.

Human beings don't live alone, and a book is a way to show that. 

Empathy - that's the power of books. 

The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming read about the love of books and literature. Once I started reading this book I just had to keep reading until the final page.

 Sosuke Natsukawa has also written The Cat Who Saved the Library.

True Story of the Kelly Gang

Peter Carey, the author of True Story of the Kelly Gang, once remarked that anyone who puts the word 'true' in a work of fiction is indicating that this is definitely not a true story. In this work of historical fiction the Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly, writes an account of his life to his young daughter. It is the story of his family - an Irish Catholic family - living in country Victoria in the nineteenth century. The struggling family is under surveillance by the local police with family members often in gaol. Eventually some family members, including Ned Kelly, turn to bushranging.

Ned Kelly and his gang have become part of the folklore of Australia. There have been many books, television series and films based on the life of Ned Kelly. Peter Carey tells this version of the story from Ned's viewpoint while he is in prison in Melbourne. There are conflicting views about the life of Ned Kelly - a person struggling to survive in an antagonistic environment or a criminal.

True Story of the Kelly Gang, published in 2000, won many awards including the Booker Prize (2001), Commonwealth Writers Prize (2001) two awards, Courier Mail Book of the Year (2001), The Age Book of the Year (2001) two awards,Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (2001) fiction award, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Vance Palmer Award for Fiction (2001), Festival Awards for Literature (SA), The Premier's Award (2002) two awards, One Book One, Brisbane (2002) winner, Centre for Australian Cultural Studies Award (2000) winner, Colin Roderick Award Best Australian Book (2000) winner, Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France) (2003) winner, Booksellers Choice Award (2000) shortlisted, Miles Franklin Award (2001) shortlisted, International Dublin Literary Award (2002) shortlisted.

True History of the Kelly Gang - ANZ LitLovers 

True History of the Kelly Gang - The Guardian 

Hagtale: a Macbeth origin story

Hagtale by Sally O'Reilly consists of two stories set three hundred years apart. Wulva is a wolf child discovered and brought up by three witches but, as she discovers, the witches have a plan for her future involving the Scottish king, Macbeth. Meanwhile, hundreds of years later Brother Rowan is sent from his monastery to an abandoned monastery in the Scottish Highlands to transcribe the history of Scotland’s kings. It is via the forest that Wulva and Rowan traverse that they meet and connect through time.

Hagtale is one of the many books involving characters or stories from Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. Macbeth (1005-1057) actually ruled Scotland from 1040-1057).

The Coast

A major feature of Australia is its dramatic coastline which, being an island continent, is extensive. In The Coast by Chris Hammer, originally published in 2012 and republished in 2026, the author explores some of the areas of the majestic eastern Australian coast which stretches more than 3,500 kilometres.

Chapters in the book focus on the Barrier Reef and its environmental issues, the islands in the Torres Strait, living on the 'cyclone coast' of Queensland, the Gold Coast, beaches on the coast north of Sydney, Bermagui and Bass Strait. When visiting Heron Island the staff of the scientific centre on the island had to evacuate as Cyclone Yasi was approaching. Later in the book we learn of the effects of Yasi and other cyclones on the Queensland coast.

Many of the locations described in the book were places that we had visited including Horn Island and Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, Cairns when we holidayed at Port Douglas and Mission Beach near Dunk Island where we enjoyed a holiday before Cyclone Yasi devastated the island. The effect of the environment, especially climate change, are topics discussed throughout the book. Surfers Paradise is a very different built-up, commercial area on the coast.

Chris Hammer explored various parts of the coast at different times. Sometimes this journey provided the opportunity to explore areas associated with his family in the past, especially on the NSW coast. The chapter on Bermagui included reflections on family holidays in the area which can lead readers to reflect on their own family beach holiday experiences. Further south he encounters the Bass Strait between Victoria and Tasmania which leads to exploring parts of northern Tasmania before concluding with a visit to Loch Ard Gorge and the Twelve Apostles in Victoria.

I found this an interesting book to read as the author described a significant part of the Australian environment and how we need to appreciate it and protect it. By telling of his own experiences with holidays on the coast he encourages readers to remember coastal areas significant to them and their family story.