I knew when I was recently reading The Sweet Hills of Florence by Jan Wallace Dickinson that I had something on my shelves about fascism in Italy, but I couldn’t remember the name of the book or where I’d put it.  It was when I was completing the meme My Blog’s Name in Books that I came across it: First Words, a Childhood in Fascist Italy is a brief memoir by Italian journalist Rosetta Loy (b.1931), and it traces the Italy of her privileged childhood alongside the oppression of the Jews and the reaction of the Vatican.

There’s much more about fascism than a child could have known at the time.  Rosetta is five years old when the book begins, and her life is about playing in the park and at home; about listening to stories and singing songs; about beginning school and her brother beginning secondary school…

Florence is one of the great tourist destinations of the world – a world heritage site of priceless Renaissance art and architecture.  (You only need to look at its Wikipedia page if you need any convincing).  My memories of the city are full of galleries and cathedrals  – and although I thought of Mussolini when we saw his famous balcony at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, he didn’t cross my mind for a moment in sunny Florence.  So the dark history of civil war in Florence during the German Occupation in Jan Wallace Dickinson’s debut novel The Sweet Hills of Tuscany was a revelation to me.

The novel introduces Mussolini in 1941 hosting Hitler’s state visit to Florence, bragging afterwards of his godlike status to his lover Clara.  At the same time, the aristocratic Albizzi family reacts with dismay. Annabelle, who’s only a dreamy teenager who would rather read books in her father’s library, doesn’t really understand much of what’s going on…

Greek migrants have been coming to Melbourne ever since the Gold Rush but their numbers surged in the postwar era when Arthur Calwell’s ‘populate or perish’ immigration program offered hope and a home to peoples devastated by the war.  People of Greek heritage are now an integral part of the fabric of our city, so much so that Melbourne is said to be the third largest Greek city in the world. Like many other Melburnians I have friends of Greek heritage and I have celebrated their festivals, dined in their restaurants, and tangled my toes in Zorba’s dance to the music of Mikis Theodorakis on Greek Independence Day.  And yet until I read A Perfect Stone by Melbourne author Sylvia Marakaltsas, I did not know a thing about the Greek Civil War (1946-1949).

Even more embarrassing is that I did not know that amongst the genial older Greeks of my acquaintance…

It actually is quite cold here this morning, and it’s been snowing on and off for a couple of days now. Snow – frozen rain falling from the skies.  The song by Guns ‘n Roses,  November Rain, plays in my head. “And it’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain”. It’s a song about relationship; about love and loss. Even though it’s a love song and the story about the struggles of two people in a romantic relationship, the ballad is so sad, so haunting – it brings back painful memories for me – not about a romance gone bad – but about loss, irretrievable loss.

November – Remembrance Day and recalling the sacrifices made in two horrific world wars. All those who died. All those who were irreparably wounded in body and soul…

November – the month my father died…

November – and remembering…

these horses would be mine! (Please click to enlarge).

I was one of those young girls who loved horses more than boys……for awhile at least! And they still have the power over me.

Beauty is indeed truth, and truth for me has always been horses.

The Holler has a history of housing some pretty incredible horses. Check out these beauties for example.

Seabiscuit, Seattle Slew and Secretariat all had foals here and the multi-National Champion Khemosabi lived here. Seabiscuit had 108 foals, only one of which had a successful racing career. That thoroughbred was Sea Orbit, nicknamed Baby Biscuit who was a Hollerite. Blanco the Andalusian named Shadowfax in the Lord of the Rings movies lives here too.

Holler town is horse town.

I’ve seen some pretty amazing horses around the world.

The free ranging horses of Patagonia for example and the peerless Lipzzaner stallions in Vienna.

I think though…

We have the best neighbors at The Holler,

the kind with feathers.

They are the most populous of all The Hollerites,

and they make the most congenial neighbors.

At the first sign of conflict,

they just fly away,

and land somewhere quieter.

I try and emulate them,

leaving crowds behind,

and seeking my own quiet spaces.

The only problem is I can’t fly!

Cheers to you from the feathered Hollerites~

(Note: I did this post with the new Gutenberg editor which was kind of fun. Can you detect any differences?)

Peat Island is less than 250 pages long, but it took me a while to read it because its subject matter is distressing.  It’s the sad and sorry story of one of Australia’s institutions for the mentally ill, and how as a society we have failed to care for the vulnerable in ways that show respect for their humanity.  My reading of the book coincides with the Victorian Premier’s announcement that it will hold a Royal Commission into mental health if his government is re-elected.

Premier Daniel Andrews made the pledge because he recognised that mental illness is an issue for everyone.  He is quoted as saying that it hit home when both of his children had returned from school with letters about the death of a student.  In the ABC report (viewed 4/11/18)—while he didn’t allude to the recent Royal Commissions into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and…