The Red Hand: stories, relections and the last appearance of Jack Irish

One of Australia's most celebrated authors of crime fiction was Peter Temple (1946-2018). His books include titles in the Jack Irish series plus Truth and Broken Shore. The Red Hand includes a selection of Peter Temple's (mostly unpublished) writing.

High Art was to be another Jack Irish novel but it was not completed.  The 100 pages provided in this book reintroduce familiar characters including Charlie Taub, Cameron Delroy plus Norm, Eric and Wilbur (permanent patrons of the Prince of Prussia Pub).  Jack had been asked to investigate the disappearance of a staff member from a university college who had been evaluating the college art collection. The reader will have to create their own ending for this story. As usual Melbourne, especially the inner suburbs, features prominently.

A number of Peter Temple's books have been filmed for television. Included in this volume is the script for a telemovie about a country football team - Ben Valentine.

This volume also includes a section containing book reviews written by Peter Temple plus short articles. One article concerned the inclusion of avid supporters of the Fitzroy Football Club in his Jack Irish novels while another is about the Melbourne Cup (horse racing is also usually a feature in Jack Irish novels). In 2011 Peter Temple gave the Miles Franklin Oration entitled "Reading the Country" which discussed the importance of setting in his work. A copy of the talk is included. Six short stories complete this compilation which is a tribute to the memory of Peter Temple - an important contributor to Australian fiction.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

In this book Alix E Harrow has written a story about doors - the portals between two worlds that can sometimes appear in our world.

January Scaller lives in a large house in new England with her guardian, Mr Locke. As her father travels the world collecting artefacts for the Locke Collection, he is rarely at home. January lives in a world where she is not fully accepted and is used to not fitting wherever she goes. She wants to find her father when she learns that he is missing and also her mother who disappeared when January was very young.

January is normally left to her own devices at Mr Locke's house, so when she discovers a book alluding to other worlds she decides to explore. January soon discovers that she has special powers to locate and unlock doors, however as she looks for and discovers new doors an evil force closes them. She needs to learn who she can really trust as she searches for her parents.

The book begins slowly as the reader is introduced to tow stories but as the stories merge the book is difficult to put down.

Fierce Bad Rabbits: the tales behind children's picture books

This is another recent publication exploring children's literature - this time specifically the development of picture books. In this book Clare Pollard investigates some of the themes occurring in picture books, provides background information about the lives of authors that may have led to the creation of the picture book as well as looking at the variety of ways some picture books have been interpreted by adults.

Clare Pollard provides a brief history of the development of picture books for children, especially in the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries. However it is since the 1960s that the explosion of picture books has occurred. The books discussed by the author are picture books that she enjoyed as a child or read to her children. A sample of titles include The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Bread and Jam for Frances, The Snowy Day, The Tiger who Came to Tea and Where the Wild Things Are.

A question to be asked is are picture books published for children or adults? Clare Pollard argues that picture books are often more complex than they appear on the surface suggesting that on analysis they can quite often be dark in subject matter.

Contrary to the belief of many adults, picture books are not just produced for preschoolers - some are definitely aimed at older readers. Children and adults may also look at picture books (and books in general) differently. Picture books may therefore be interpreted differently by different audiences.

Peace

Garry Disher's latest Australian crime novel is set in a small community, Tiverton, in rural South Australia. Constable Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch), the sole policeman in the town, reports regularly to Sergeant Hilliary Brandl stationed in the larger town of Redruth.  Hirsch therefore feels responsibility for the members of this small community who he endeavours to get to know personally, making it easier to maintain peace and trust among the citizens. But sometimes this is easier said than done.

Christmas is approaching and, when doing his rounds, Hirsch discovers a missing dog, indications of copper theft, occasional break-ins in isolated properties, graffiti and then one of the locals drives her car into the pub. All in a days work for a country copper, particularly one who has been instructed to wear a Santa suit for Tiverton's Christmas celebration and judge the Christmas lights competition.

However in the next few days a number of serious crimes occur requiring not just the police from Redruth but also two police officers from Sydney to assist investigations. It is soon obvious that Hirsch is not being told the full story about these crimes and begins to wonder who can really be trusted. To further complicate his life someone has made a report to the Adelaide police about how Hirsch manages crimes in the town.

Descriptions of the town and surrounding dry and dusty countryside feature prominently in this novel along with the humanity and compassion of Hirsch as he strives to solve the spate of serious crimes that occur over the Christmas New Year period. Another excellent Australian crime novel.

The Eighth Life: for Brilka

The Eighth Life was written by Nino Haratischvile and translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. The subtitle is For Brilka who is a young girl belonging to the eighth generation of this family saga. Brilka's aunt, Niza, spends a year writing the story of the family during the twentieth century for her niece.

The story is of a family trying to survive through tumultuous times in Georgia and Russia. It is the story of the rise and fall of a family both socially and politically including the effects of communism on daily life. The story of life in Georgia portrays a free country, a country ruled in turn by the Germans and then the Russians during the Second World War followed by the Cold War. Unfortunately, towards the end of the twentieth century,  freedom from the rule of other countries does not guarantee peace as power struggles ensue.

The book consists of eight sections, each with the name of a family member as individual stories of family members interweave to tell the family story. The ambitions of many of the characters are not always achieved thwarted by family pressures and expectations or external factors governed by political factors and war.  Consequently attempts for involvement  relating to the arts - dance, singing, writing and film - are interrupted by war, revolution, rebellion, mistrust and hatred, politically and domestically.

However a thread throughout the book is generally the strength of the female family members plus the power of chocolate - a secret recipe passed through the generations.

At 934 pages this is a good holiday read to be read with few interruptions in order to appreciate the complexities of this saga of a family and a country.

Another book showing the effects of war on a small European country is The Lace Weaver set in Estonia.

The Anarchy: the relentless rise of the East India Company

The beginnings of the East India Company can be traced back to Elizabethan times in 1599. This was a time of exploration; the quest for new lands and trade routes. Competition for supremacy between European countries, particularly England, France, Spain and the Netherlands was strong.  Initially the British government encouraged companies such as the East India Company to undertake new trading ventures but the government never envisaged that the company's interests would encompass more than trade.

This study by William Dalrymple primarily looks at the rapid growth and power of the company particularly between 1765 and 1803. In 1765 the East India Company defeated the Mughal emperor and then proceeded, using their own army, to aquire additional territory. As the power of the company expanded the British government tried to restrict the power of the company and take control of India as a colony.

Although the East India Company continued to grow during the first part of the nineteenth century it became more closely overseen by the British government. There was a rebellion in the ranks of the East India Company Army in 1857 followed by the Indian Mutiny. This resulted in the end of the role of the East India Company in India though India remained under the control of the British government until gaining independence in 1947.

William Dalrymple provides a detailed study of events during this time and looks at the role of the main players from Britain including Robert Clive, Warren Hastings, Charles Cornwallis and Richard Colley Wellesley plus French leaders in India and leaders of a number of Indian states.

I was particularly interested to look at this book as I had family members working in India as merchants, soldiers in the East India Company army then later the British army and the civil service during the nineteenth century. This book will be a useful source for background information when researching this branch of the family tree.

The book has detailed notes, an extensive bibliography and index for further research.

The Lost Pearl

Like a number of other recent novels (including Meet me at Lennons), in this book Emily Madden provides an account of the life of civilians living through events during the Second World War. As a story of lost love the book also provides a study of attitudes regarding class and people from other ethnic backgrounds as well as social changes that have occurred since the 1940s.

Catherine  McGarrie was a teenager living in Hawaii in December 1941 when Pearl Harbour was bombed. This event changed her life as Catherine and her mother left Hawaii for Australia to stay with Aunt Iris for the rest of the war. Having visited Pearl Harbour several years ago I could vividly imagine the experience of the bombing as described in the book.

In Sydney Catherine met William Bennett and they married and had four sons. When her granddaughter, Kit, was born Catherine developed a special relationship with her. However when Catherine died, Kit discovered that her grandmother had a secret that was unknown to other family members.

This is the story of Kit's quest to discover her grandmother's story. The story is told in two time frames - 1940s and 75 years later - and is set mainly in Hawaii and Sydney. During her search Kit must come to terms with her own past events and make decisions about her future.

(One of the themes in the book concerns the forced adoption of children of young unmarried mothers - a theme that also occurs in Philomena.)