This week's book is a very interesting nonfiction account on Susan Swingler's quest to find out why her father left her (and her mother) when she was four. A fascinating account of family drama and the search for a father's love.
"Susan Swingler is the step-daughter of one of Australia's most revered writers - the English-born Elizabeth Jolley. But behind that simple statement is a lifetime of family lies and deceptions that started when Susan's father, Leonard Jolley, left his marriage and four-year-old Susan to make a new life with Elizabeth in Australia. Susan had no inkling of what had happened until she came across perplexing revelations at the age of 21.
The House of Fiction tells the story of Susan's quest to discover the truth about her father. As she traces clues to a better understanding of Leonard, she inadvertently unravels a intricate fiction created by Elizabeth to deceive Leonard's family back in England."
Book beginnings on Fridays
Rose City Reader, is hosting Book beginnings on Friday. Join her on Fridays to share the first sentence (or so) of a book of your choice, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
"Everything should not be told, it is better to keep some things to yourself.
- Elizabeth Jolley
A beginning for this story might be in 1940 when my father, Leonard Jolley, fell ill and was nursed by a young woman called Monica Knight; this meeting changed their lives and ultimately mine, although I wasn't yet born."
The Friday 56
Freda’s voice is hosting The Friday 56 and the rules are: Grab any book and turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. (If you have to improvise, that's ok.) Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it). Post it and add your link to Linky on her webpage. It is that simple.
"Perhaps Soeur Gertrude told my mother how little I ate, but for whatever reason Joyce felt that what I needed was milk, and the school didn't provide enough of it. So she found a solution. Every evening, as it was getting dark, she hurried down from the main school at break time, and we'd go for a walk, through the high metal gates and along the one street of the village."
Sounds like a great read!! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteIt was, and very well written as well. Fascinating story.
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