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'‘I was confined, locked into my library, tracing my heartbeats from way, way back.’
'In Telltale, Carmel Bird seizes on the enforced isolation of the pandemic to re-read a rich dispensary of books from her past. A rule she sets herself is that she can consult only the books in her house, even if some, such as the much-loved Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, appear to be stubbornly elusive. Her library is comprehensive, and each book chosen – or that cannot be refused – enables an opening, a connection to people, time, place, myth, image, and the experience of a writing life. From her father’s bomb shelter to her mother’s raspberry jam, from a lost Georgian public library with ‘narrow little streets of books’ to the memory of crossing by bridge the turbulent waters of the Tamar River, to a revelatory picnic at Tasmania’s Cataract Gorge in 1945, this is the most intimate of memoirs.
'It is one that never shies from the horrors of world history, the treatment of First Nations People, or the literary misrepresentations of the past.
'Original, lyrical, and hugely enjoyable, Telltale, with its finely wrought insight and artful storytelling, is destined to delight.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
The Book Corner : Telltale
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 August vol. 32 no. 17 2022;
— Review of Telltale : Reading Writing Remembering 2022 single work prose -
Weaving and Brewing : A Lifetime of Bookish Immersion
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 446 2022; (p. 41)
— Review of Telltale : Reading Writing Remembering 2022 single work prose 'On 1985, the American poet and essayist Susan Howe deftly jettisoned any pretensions to objectivity in the field of literary analysis with her ground-breaking critical work My Emily Dickinson. The possessive pronoun in Howe’s title says it all: when a writer’s work goes out to its readers, it reignites in any number of imaginative and emotional contexts. What rich and varied screens we project onto everything we read.' (Introduction) -
Glimpse into Writer’s Shelves
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 July 2022; (p. 17)
— Review of Telltale : Reading Writing Remembering 2022 single work prose
-
Glimpse into Writer’s Shelves
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 July 2022; (p. 17)
— Review of Telltale : Reading Writing Remembering 2022 single work prose -
Weaving and Brewing : A Lifetime of Bookish Immersion
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 446 2022; (p. 41)
— Review of Telltale : Reading Writing Remembering 2022 single work prose 'On 1985, the American poet and essayist Susan Howe deftly jettisoned any pretensions to objectivity in the field of literary analysis with her ground-breaking critical work My Emily Dickinson. The possessive pronoun in Howe’s title says it all: when a writer’s work goes out to its readers, it reignites in any number of imaginative and emotional contexts. What rich and varied screens we project onto everything we read.' (Introduction) -
The Book Corner : Telltale
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 August vol. 32 no. 17 2022;
— Review of Telltale : Reading Writing Remembering 2022 single work prose