I am beginning to see our little coterie at number six through other eyes. After she returns to Queensland, she has a realization: They are a happy group who live in harmony. Her next escape lands her in London where she meets three wonderful friends to live with and finds employment that suits her. Those years with like-minded artists come to an end when she and Colin move in with his mother in the suburb where she is eventually imprisoned by Colin and his mother, the Depression and her mental state. The author says the characters are imaginary and only the houses on the point are taken from life: Bomera, Tarana, Crecy, Agincourt. Nora escapes her small town (and unlovely mother and sister) to Sydney with a lawyer who shows up in her town and lives for a few delicious years in a room in one of the beautiful houses on Potts Point. In these few pages, a whole life unfolds with references of what is to come so that we are prepared for the events when they are revealed to us. Nora, now in her late 70s tells us her story as she returns to the place where she grew up, a small town in Queensland, after years in Sydney and London. Yesterday my continuing recovery from this wretched cold was considerably improved by reading the short book Tirra Lirra by the River. So, besides being its own reward, reading Australian authors has another virtue. For each post about an Australian book sent to her blog, she is making a donation to the Indigenous Literary Foundation. Another book chosen in honor of Australian Literature Month! As I mentioned in a previous post, Kimbofo of Reading Matters has designated this month for Australian literature.

Tirra lirra by the river