Preservation was an impulse choice: I saw it at the library and I’d enjoyed Jock Serong’s On the Java Ridge (which BTW has won some awards since I read it).

Preservation is quite different in that it’s historical fiction set in colonial Sydney, and it only obliquely tackles the problem of evil in the present day.  It’s basically a detective story but it’s absorbing reading because it’s a howdunit and a whydunit rather than a whodunit…

The novel is derived from the true story of shipwreck of the Sydney Cove.  This is the blurb:

On a beach not far from the isolated settlement of Sydney in 1797, a fishing boat picks up three shipwreck survivors, distressed and terribly injured. They have walked hundreds of miles across a landscape whose features—and inhabitants—they have no way of comprehending. They have lost fourteen companions along the way. Their accounts of the ordeal are evasive.

It…

This holiday season, as we all gather near

Caroling tunes that bring us good cheer

Remember to sing, off key, when you do

Your relatives leave sooner, thanks to you

FOWC with Fandango – Relative
Ragtag Daily Prompt – Sing

©2018 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved
Photo via Pixabay CC0

Let the light of who you truly are

Shine bright

And may the world

Embrace you

Photo by the author

For the backstory on this poem, visit byalannapass.com 

Ok, it’s time for the draw for the autographed copy of Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia by Anita Heiss and there were 13 entries, in this order:

1. Sue from Whispering Gums
2. Janine from The Resident Judge of Port Phillip
3. Jeniwren
4. Bill from The Australian Legend
5. Sharkell
6. Caroline
7. China
8. Valerie
9. James
10. Barbara
11. Meaghan
12. Sumara and Peta

Now, what I didn’t tell you lovely people was that I actually have two autographed copies to give away and so we have two winners to draw using the random number generator at Random.Org… and they are…

#Drumroll

No 5 Sharkell and No 4 Bill from The Australian Legend!

The book will be on their way to you tomorrow!!

Commiserations if you missed out, but maybe next time:)