AustLit

'Peter Skrzynecki is a poet and fiction writer of Polish-Ukrainian descent. This is the autobiography / memoir of a young teacher appointed to a one-teacher school at Jeogla on the New England Tablelands in the 1960s: an appointment that leads to the discovery of people, places and poetry. Jeogla, like Walden for Henry David Thoreau, becomes a sanctuary, a retreat for the observation of the natural world, the high country with its mountains, rivers, waterfalls and wildlife; it stirs the awakenings of self-reliance. Included in the narrative is the story of a family’s tragedy and a broken promise, the consequences of which reverberate for many years until they are resolved by the healing process of Time. Or are they?' (Publication summary)