The Australian Women\'s Weekly - June 2018

188 The Australian Women’s Weekly | JUNE 2018

THE GIFT OF SILENCE

by Kankyo Tannier, Hachette

There has been much talk of

late of the value of silence

in a world dominated by

social media. To this end,

a quiet patter of books

about introducing periods

of not talking into our lives

is recommending this

ancient wisdom to help

reduce stress. Kankyo

Tannier, a French Buddhist

nun, lived in a monastery

for 15 years before settling

in a forest, where she

teaches meditation. A

chatterbox child, she says,

“When words do not pass

our lips, they still continue to

parade in our heads ...

which means many people

have a constant ‘little voice’

known as our ’internal

dialogue’.”

THE WANDERING VINE

by Nina Callan, Bloomsbury

Shortly after the death of

her wine-loving father, a

case of champagne that

he had ordered arrived.

When wine writer Caplan

opened a bottle, she was

surprised at the force of

the bubbles – “tiny pockets

of 1990s air, finally freed”.

In honour of her father,

Caplan meets the wine

growers, travelling from the

rabbit-infested English

Downs, via beautiful

Burgundy, where she lives.

“To be rooted is perhaps

the most important and

least recognised need of

the human soul,” wrote

Simone Weil. “Let’s raise

our glasses to the courage

of those who journey,

willingly or otherwise.”

UNTHINKABLE

by Helen Thomson, Hachette

When Sharon was five she

ran into her family’s backyard

and told her mother she didn’t

know where she was –

everything looked different.

The next day it felt as though

her bedroom door had

moved. For 25 years she hid

the fact she had lost her

”mental map”, and had to

follow her children’s cries

because she couldn’t find their

bedrooms. Sharon got help at

61, after years of spinning on

the spot, jolting her world into

shape. Bob can remember

every day of his life and kids

at school called him Rain Man.

The author gives a tip for

memory recall: Did I turn the

gas off? Make an animal

noise as you do it, to prevent

the memory getting lost.

SPINNING TOPS

& GUMDROPS

by Edward Barnard, NLA

Children wandering into the

bush, vanishing forever.

Sydney slum street kids, five

to a room. City gangs of

urchins and girl prostitutes as

young as seven. The tough

childhoods of Australian

colonial children from 1788

until 1900 flood the senses in

this moving book, which is

packed with never-seen-

before photos. It was the

European immigrants who

imposed suffocating dre

codes on their better-o

offspring. While countr

children’s wounds were

bound with cobwebs (ne

disturbed for their healin

properties), spinning top

were city favourite toys a

gumdrops popular trea

TO MAKE YOU THINK

An evocative re-enactment of the

Bonegilla Migrant Camp on the banks

of the River Murray in Victoria, where

boatloads of Eastern Europeans arrived in

postwar 1940s, to live until they found

work. Four ictional girls become friends:

Frances, daughter of the camp director,

“as adventurous as Amelia Earhart”,

teaches the girls English and stands up to

the racist taunts of “reffos” and “dagoes”.

Haunted Hungarian Elizabeta has come

from exile in Germany, where a Russian

soldier raped her mother. Vasiliki’s mother

wants her to marry a “Good Greek boy”.

Iliana’s Italian family hate the Aussie

tucker. Our hope for the future is all-

embracing Frances, who loves the exotic

new arrivals.“At Bonegilla she felt as if

the whole world had been dropped at her

feet.” Purman deals realistically and

respectfully with family cultural traditions,

versus “new life freedoms”, as one friend

accepts an arranged marriage. But at a

20-year friends’ reunion, secrets are out.

The Last of the Bonegilla Girls by Victoria Purman, HQ

FOUR BOOKS

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