AustLit

'Painting the Light is an expansive historical Australian novel and a touching and realistic love story set before, during and after WW2. It traces the journey of two young Australians whose experience of the war leads them to rejecting their conservative upbringing and embracing the aims of a fair deal for everyone.

'Nell Hope’s dreams of becoming an artist are dashed when Hitler invades Poland. Her grazier father orders her home from Paris, and so she swaps her paint brush for riding boots.

'Alec Murray’s loyalist instincts propel him to leave his farm in western NSW and enlist in the AIF to defend Britain against the impending Nazi threat.

'They meet in the hyper-charged atmosphere of prewar Sydney and fall in love, but their courtship is cut short when war is declared. Alec is sent to the Middle East where his eyes are opened to a new world. Far from experiencing the romanticism of war as depicted in the art and literature of the day, Alec is confronted by the reality of its horrors. When he returns on leave after two years in Palestine and Greece, he is a changed man. He is determined that if he survives the war, he will do everything in his power to create a fairer and more equitable society. To his relief he finds a fellow traveller in Nell. They are hastily married before he is sent to PNG to fight the Japanese.

'Nell discovers she is pregnant and faces the prospect of bringing a new baby into the world alone. Dreams of an artistic career seem long ago.

'When Alec is finally demobbed, the couple begin a new life on his farm near Coonabarabran, NSW. He throws himself into local politics and starts to transform Coonabarabran by creating the kind of public utilities he saw in his travels.

'Nell discovers she is pregnant again just at the time when Alec receives a call from Labor Party headquarters. A meeting with Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, results in him standing for the ALP in a safe Country Party seat. Their respective family and friends are horrified and turn their backs on the couple.

'United in the fight to create a more equitable society and to bring rural Australia into the postwar world, Nell and Alec throw everything into the election. Soon they discover they are fighting against more than their Country Party opponents, but their love and loyalty to each other grow ever stronger.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In the baking heat of February 1973, wearing a purple nylon bodyshirt and an expression of confidence that belied his nerves, Ned Manning faced down a classroom full of kids in Tenterfield in remote NSW. It was the start of many years of teaching, by turns exhilarating, nerve-fraying and inspiring.

'Packed with stories of students both bored and enthusiastic, lesson plans, staff rooms and drama as studied for the HSC and lived every day, the book roams from high schools in dusty country towns to the edgy Newtown School of Performing Arts in Sydney's inner-city and a crucible of creativity at EORA Aboriginal College. Through the challenges he inevitably faces, Mr Manning finds the common thread of possibility and hope that runs through his profession.

'A funny and disarmingly honest memoir of a full life of teaching, Playground Duty has the power to rekindle a spark of glee and optimism about teachers, kids and even schools.'  (Publication summary)

'Joe's world is crumbling. Or is it? His son Bill has his best interests at heart. Or does he? Daughter Katy is flying in from New York. She knows what to do but is she acting on the truth or a lie? And what of Ruth's vision? Is it being honoured or appropriated? Do we pave paradise or live with the rot, cross our fingers and get out the liquid nails?

'Four generations of one family come to represent Australia in the new millennium. While everyone is busy trying to do the right thing Joe realises what it will take to realise the truth, honour the spirit and secure the title of Last One Standing.'

Old Fitzroy Theatre website, http://www.oldfitzroy.com.au/
Sighted: 10/04/2007