AustLit

'Covering a wide range of emotive issues from frustrated ambition to religious and cultural differences and understanding, political correctness in the classroom, the underrated effect of homesickness, the slippery search for self, in Perspectives, Tangea Tansley offers a selection of impassioned stories that evoke all the pain, wonder -- and sometimes the joy -- of the human condition. More than just a collection of short stories and memoir, this is a book that turns the spotlight on some of the major issues of our time as well as recognising the nature of our innate humanness.\

'Sad, happy, funny or true, the stories are told from a multitude of different viewpoints that provide a reflection of the world we live in. A schoolteacher steels himself against a pupil's attempt at seduction; the life of a young mother changes due to an impulsive but, as it turns out, serendipitous purchase; an out-of-work artist finds that all is not lost after all; a boy and his dog fight the system; and a lost and lonely young man finds an unexpected friend -- but is it too late?

'In Memoir, Tansley investigates her own feelings on discovering her Jewish background, relates the uplifting story of an elderly friend who finds romance, reveals her memories of her mother's struggle with chronic longing for Africa -- and in a series of three short pieces, Once Were Immigrants, underscores the essential human need for connection.

'As a bonus under Postscript, the author has taken the unusual step of including a story written by her late father, Ken Coton, another story of connection told from the point-of-view of a racehorse, and broadcast more than once around the world. 

'A number of pieces in this collection -- both fiction and non-fiction -- have won awards in national competitions, been published in literary journals, newspapers and anthologies, and broadcast nationally.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The farm Kloof may provide a sanctuary of sorts - but who really belongs here and how important is belongingness anyway? When her husband Jan is killed by a landmine, his widow Veronica (Ronnie) Boltman has little choice but to pick up her life and continue to farm Kloof. At stake are her young son Rudi's inheritance, the livelihoods of her farm labourers and her own sense of belonging. From time to time she reaches out for assistance to the owner of the neighbouring property, Jan's former best friend Piet Toerien. But Piet has problems of his own. And there are some who have other plans. Set in Northern Transvaal in South Africa straddling two epochs, Kloof was founded on trust and honesty, the principles of which still exist generations later. But now it is 1978 and the two isolated smallholdings that sit on the border between Rhodesia and Mozambique find themselves in the path of someone else's war. An edgy mix of physical isolation and emotional alienation where vulnerability meets grit and determination, A Question of Belonging reaches for the essence of what it means - and just what it takes - to belong.'  (Publication summary)

'"I say to you, Dana, come prepared to enjoy yourself. That's the only way this will work..." When, finally, Dana turns her back on her own career to join her husband Dekker on a company camp in Saudi Arabia, she smothers her apprehension with the conviction that she is doing the right thing. This is the brave new world of the Sixties after all. What harm can come from taking six months, a year perhaps, as time-out? But she is totally unprepared for the harsh reality and restrictions of her new environment, for the frustration and unhappiness she will uncover and for the predicament in which she finds herself. On the one hand she tries to support her friends, on the other she is blind to the traps she herself is falling into. Out of Place is an intense psychological drama about trying to live up to expectations and loss of identity - a story of the intimate lives of ordinary people, their passions, secrets and all-too-human frailties.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.