Hi everyone,
Welcome to Book’d Out’s
Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop. The blog hop highlights Australian
bloggers, authors, booksellers and publishers. So come on in and join the fun
and discover some fab Aussie blogs and great new stories.
So, turning my attention
to Australia day, I began remembering hazy, hot summers of my youth. Thinking
back I remembered some fabulous Australian stories that have always stayed with
me. So I decided to share just a few of them in no particular order.
Picnic
at Hanging Rock
By
Joan Lindsey
In
1900, a class of young women from an exclusive private school go on an
excursion to the isolated Hanging Rock, deep in the Australian bush. The
excursion ends in tragedy when three girls and a teacher mysteriously vanish
after climbing the rock. Only one girl returns, with no memory of what has
become of the others...
I’ve always loved Joan
Lindsey’s Picnic at Hanging Rock. Not just because it is a beautifully woven
tale but there is something rather special about the Rock itself. Hanging Rock
isn’t that far from where I live, in fact I drive past it every time I go to
Melbourne. Hanging Rock is beautiful, grey, quiet, atmospheric and kind of
creepy if you are there by yourself. Ms Lindsey captured the feeling of it
wonderfully in her mystery story.
My
Brilliant Career
By
Miles Franklin
This
classic Australian novel was written by Miles Franklin, and details her life
being born of the bush in Australia. A fantastic, well-written book with lively
descriptions of a girl's life that can't be passed up by anybody who is drawn
by good stories with captivating details. This novel should be required reading
by anyone interested in Australia or important female writers and novelists in
history.
Playing
Beatie Bow
By
Ruth Park
The game is called
Beatie Bow and the children play it for the thrill of scaring themselves. But
when Abigail is drawn in, the game is quickly transformed into an
extraordinary, sometimes horrifying, adventure as she finds herself transported
to a place that is foreign yet strangely familiar . . .
The story is set in Sydney, Australia and is about a girl named Abigail who
travels back in time to colonial Sydney-Town in the year 1873, where she meets
Beatie Bow, a girl whose name has become part of Abigail's local folklore. Much
of the book is set in real-life locations around Sydney's historical Rocks
district.
All
the Rivers Run
By
Nancy Cato
Her handsome, laughing
cousin Adam gave young Delie Gordon her first taste of love--its soaring
happiness, its heartbreaking pain.
Virile, self-confident riverboat captain Brenton Edwards showed Delie her
weakness in the face of a man's overwhelming passion--but though he made her
his wife, he could not enslave her proud and defiant spirit.
Wealthy and elegant Alastair Raeburn taught Delie how sweet forbidden ecstasy
could be--and how high its ultimate price.
Here is a spellbinding story of a beautiful and vital woman--the man she loved,
the children she bore, the dreams she followed, and the destiny she found.
Here, set against the lush, wild countryside and winding rivers of Victorian
Australia, is a saga that surges over eight dramatic decades and four
generations.
Here’s the link to get you back to Book’d Out -
I’m giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a Kindle
copy of my Victorian era romance, Dancing on Air.
Entries close midnight 28th January, 2014.
Dancing
on Air
Cinderella meets Swan
Lake in a cross-class, Victorian novel about a ballerina, an aristocrat, and
the space in between them.
Lisette yearns for freedom,
security and love, but none are offered on the run-down stage of The Imperial
Theatre. Instead she has hard work, a tyrannical aunt, and the hope of one day
becoming a prima ballerina. Dancing on the stage she catches the attention of
two powerful men: Lord Gainswith and Lord De Vale.
Lord Evander Gainswith never expected to fall in love, let alone with a woman
so wholly unacceptable to his family and his peers. The sinister Lord De Vale
covets Lisette's youth and strength, and is willing to pay well for it. Lisette
may dance roles in fairy tales and fantasies, but the real world is about to
intrude, bringing with it the harsh realities of life for a young girl with
dreams of rising above the demimonde.
Thanks for stopping by.
Nicóle xx
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