Review: Put Your Feet in the Dirt, Girl

Title: Put Your Feet in the Dirt, Girl

Author: Sonia Henry

Publisher: 30th May 2023 by Allen & Unwin

Pages: 270 pages

Genre: memoir, medical, Australia

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

The bestselling author of Going Under recounts her real-life journey from hard-partying Sydney medical intern to dust-covered rural GP.

"Solo GP needed for medical clinic, mining town in Pilbara region, Western Australia. Car and accommodation provided. On call paid extra. Close proximity to absolutely nothing."

In 2020, lost and heartbroken, and with an unscratched travel itch thanks to international border closures, Sonia Henry accepted a job as a GP in remotest Western Australia. The plan was to stay for one month. But before she knew it, this dressed-to-the-nines Sydney party girl was becoming an Akubra-wearing bush doctor covered in red dust--and loving every minute of it.

Sonia spent the next two years working in some of the remotest parts of the country. She learned how to shoot in the middle of the desert, visited pearl farms and pubs, came to terms with being regularly outnumbered by crocodiles, and adopted a cattle dog called Buddy, who would come to be her closest companion. She also met an eclectic bunch of patients and friends, and opened her eyes to the truths--both good and bad--of the country she calls home.

Put Your Feet in the Dirt, Girl is a modern outback medical memoir full of heart, energy, rage and wonder. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever had to get lost in order to be found.

My Thoughts

‘So you wouldn’t go out there?’ I ask. She looks at me as if I have turned green. ‘Are you kidding? As a solo female? With no experience in that kind of medicine? No way in hell.’

So begins a story from an excellent storyteller. It’s difficult to write this review as the topics covered are so broad and diverse, however, I shall try my best hoping that readers will walk away inspired to read this gem of a book. In essence if I had to sum it up, I would say Sonia writes about some harsh truths many Australians most likely are unaware of and that then is reflective upon self truths and the tales we tell ourselves. 

‘With a destination in mind, there’s a goal and a road, and challenges and hurdles and life to be lived on the way.’

On one level this is an exquisite and eye opener report into remote Australia and that alone makes this requisite reading. Confronted with the remoteness of the Pilbara, far west New South Wales and of course the great Northern Territory, Sonia arrives at these places and more often than not, finds herself the only doctor for miles around - hundreds of miles around! The stories she then goes on to share will seem as if from another country but they are not - neglect and far worse of our First Nations people, where the gap between the ‘haves and have nots’ is increasing at a rapid and sorrowful rate. Questions are raised on how to fill this ever increasing chasm with the understanding that only by connecting to the outside will we allow ourselves to connect to the inside. 

‘Everyone always wants to be somewhere else. I was always like that, too: there was always somewhere else to be, someone else to meet, another horizon to conquer.’

Sonia’s descriptions of the vast, remote and wondrous expanse of the Outback is awe inspiring, as if she had somehow gone back to the beginning of time itself. ‘People talk about the power of the land. Because the land is alive, here, speaking to me.’ Living this way forced her to be in the present moment, ‘I am nothing but a speck, a whisper of a life, crossing over a power and history I can’t put into words. I have nothing but the present moment. That’s what the earth does to me. Every plan, every worry, every feeling I have is insignificant compared to this.’

To be a solitary woman and experiencing this is yet another remarkable feat. ‘I thought I had to see the world to find myself, but all I really had to do was put my feet in the dirt of this enormous land, and get lost enough to learn the truth. And the truth is this: there are so many things bigger than me that I have been humbled completely. With that truth comes freedom. And in the freedom of humility, comes the chance to live a truly meaningful life.’

Sonia’s writing is eloquent, her story to tell so very worthy of being heard. Do yourself a favour and make sure you read it and don’t forget to put your feet in the dirt!

‘Someone said to me once, Stevie,’ I tell her, ‘that the best thing you can do in trying circumstances is to put your feet in the dirt and see what happens after that.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Emboldened

Title: Emboldened

Author: Belinda Alexandra

Publisher: 26th April 2023 by Affirm Press

Pages: 268 pages

Genre: biography, memoir, history

Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

How do you begin your life again when you've lost everything you've worked for and your dreams have been shattered?

That was the question beloved Australian author Belinda Alexandra faced one freezing winter night when she ran from her home in terror, clutching only her wallet, her phone and her latest manuscript on a USB stick.

To pull herself up from rock bottom, Belinda drew strength from the real life women who had inspired her bestselling historical fiction: her mother, Tatiana Morosoff, a White Russian who had fled a home more than once due to wars and revolutions; Virginia Hall, an American who lost her leg in an accident but went on to become one of the most revered Allied agents in World War II France; Carmen Amaya, who despite being born into abject poverty in Barcelona rose to become the greatest Flamenco dancer of all time; Edna Walling, who lost her own dream home in a freak fire but created garden designs that made her one of Australia's most celebrated landscape designers.

They were women who had faced seemingly insurmountable challenges and found ways to forge ahead on their own terms.

In a compelling and exquisite blend of memoir and history, Belinda shows readers that, no matter what challenge they might be facing, there is always the possibility of building a bold life full of meaning again from the ashes.

My Thoughts

Belinda Alexandra has many fans who follow her wonderful historical fiction stories. Emboldened sees Belinda embolden herself, moving into the field of nonfiction, offering a wonderful discourse on finding strength and courage in the face of adversity. Belinda recounts factual tales inclusive of personal recounts, to drawing inspiration from some key female figures from history. 

‘Goals can help us focus and bring us satisfaction when we achieve them, but they don't embolden us the way a true sense of purpose does.’

Emboldened is therefore part family memoir as Belinda tells the tale from her grandparents and mother and how they came to inspire her. She also includes inspiration from the American spy Virginia Hall, Carmen Amaya a famous flamenco dancer and Edna Walling and Australian landscape artist. Belinda looks at these personal life stories through the sectional themes of Reliance, Purpose, Passion and Connection. Personally, I found the recount of her personal family history incredibly engaging with regards to their migration from Russia to Australia via China and an internment camp. 

Belinda alludes to, without going into detail, her own experiences of trauma and how the above stories provided strength, determination and resilience. She uses the stories as a foundation of how to move forward in overcoming great stress and life changing experiences. Emboldened is an uplifting book drawing inspiration from the past on how some have dealt with adversity. It is beautifully written that is sure to inspire and hopefully embolden its readers. 

‘Life is a bumpy ride. The struggles are real and sometimes relentless. But the journey can ultimately be a beautiful and rich one. And overcoming the struggles are what will make it worthwhile. You already have everything inside you that you need to live life courageously and boldly.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Details

Title: The Details on Love, Death and Reading

Author: Tegan Bennett Daylight

Publisher: 8th July 2020 by Simon & Schuster (Australia)

Pages: 200 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: non fiction, biography and memoir

My Rating: 2.5 cups

Synopsis:

A book about the connections we form with literature and each other

Tegan Bennett Daylight has led a life in books - as a writer, a teacher and a critic, but first and foremost as a reader. In this deeply insightful and intimate work, Daylight describes how her reading has nourished her life, and how life has informed her reading. In both, she shows us that it's the small points of connection - the details - that really matter: what we notice when someone close to us dies, when we give birth, when we make friends. In life's disasters and delights, the details are what we can share and compare and carry with us.

Daylight writes with invigorating candour and compassion about her mother's last days; her own experiences of childbearing and its aftermath (in her celebrated essay ‘Vagina'); her long admiration of Helen Garner and George Saunders; and her great loves and friendships. Each chapter is a revelation, and a celebration of how books offer not an escape from ‘real life' but a richer engagement with the business of living.

The result is a work that will truly deepen your relationship with books, and with other readers. The delight is in the details.

My Thoughts

‘A great book changes with you.’

I am so undecided on this book. Initially I was attracted by two things. Firstly the cover: that seemingly 1970s style vibe from the subject herself (could easily have been me) to the sepia tinge common of that era. Secondly, the synopsis speaks to all bibliophiles. Yet by the conclusion I was just not sold on it in many ways. Don’t get me wrong, Tegan has many worthwhile offerings here for contemplation but I found there was no flow to the book and I was not onboard with all she had to say. Yet, that can be a good thing right ... to push your boundaries?  Thus my overall indecision on the complexity that is this book. 

‘Literature isn’t, for me, a classroom, it is right at the centre of my life. I don’t ‘learn’ from it. It isn’t ‘good for me’. It isn’t work or study or a hobby. It is me. I think in lines from books I’ve read. It’s alive in me all the time, I’m helpless, it runs through me like a torrent.’

Tegan is a wonderful writer. Her prose is eloquent yet rugged with her insights into reading and writing evident for all. From her own life and career, to her reflections on other authors, she offers clear and insightful ideas. She expresses her great loves and great concerns when it comes to reading and writing. With a great variance in chapter topics there is something for everyone from family to famous authors. Her understanding on the technique of writing and her advice to her tertiary students demonstrates her great love of literature. She delves into great depth on particular authors  such as Saunders. 

‘If you are a reader like I am you will have become closely acquainted with more than one body of work. There’s something particular in the reading of one author’s entire oeuvre. Easy with Austen; less so with Dickens. I have read every book written by Jane Austen, Tim Winton, Helen Garner, David Malouf, Charlotte Wood, Jonathan Franzen, Kazuo Ishiguro, Alice Munro, James Wood, Alan Hollinghurst and George Saunders. In this way you enter into a lifelong conversation with the author. You watch their material change, their attitudes to it shifting. You learn how to read them.’

What I struggled with was the seemingly random selection of chapters and topics. It’s not that I expected a sequential tale but I found it to be disjointed overall in its approach. The common theme of reading was not strong enough to gel it all together in my opinion. Also being a teacher myself, I could relate to some of the aspects Tegan shone a light. However, I disagreed with other things, for example, her summation of young adult literature.

‘When I stood in front of a class I felt an excited kinship, and a sense of my enormous luck–to be there, right now, amongst young people, as their reading and writing took shape. I still feel lucky, because it’s a privilege to be next to young people at any stage of their lives. But sometimes, when I read their writing, I want to set up a howl of desolation. Their flimsy words scud across an empty landscape, a landscape unpopulated by all the books that came before. There’s no weight, there’s no texture, there’s no echo, there’s no depth.’

All up this is an interesting read for lovers of literature. Here you will find one reader/writer’s thoughts on the impact of a life of reading and how it holds your hand as you journey through life together.  

‘I want them to notice what a powerful tool literature is, to understand that it helps us to know ourselves and the society we live in. I want them to discover that if they learn to handle language they might not feel as though they’re worth nothing, have nothing to say.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Phosphorescence

Title: Phosphorescence

Author: Julia Baird

Publisher: 23rd March 2020 by Harper Collins Australia

Pages: 320 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: biography, memoir, nonfiction

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

A beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness - the 'light within' that Julia Baird calls 'phosphorescence' - which will sustain us even through the darkest times.

Over the last decade, we have become better at knowing what brings us contentment, well-being and joy. We know, for example, that there are a few core truths to science of happiness. We know that being kind and altruistic makes us happy, that turning off devices, talking to people, forging relationships, living with meaning and delving into the concerns of others offer our best chance at achieving happiness. But how do we retain happiness? It often slips out of our hands as quickly as we find it. So, when we are exposed to, or learn, good things, how do we continue to burn with them?

And more than that, when our world goes dark, when we're overwhelmed by illness or heartbreak, loss or pain, how do we survive, stay alive or even bloom? In the muck and grit of a daily existence full of disappointments and a disturbing lack of control over many of the things that matter most - finite relationships, fragile health, fraying economies, a planet in peril - how do we find, nurture and carry our own inner, living light - a light to ward off the darkness?

Absorbing, achingly beautiful, inspiring and deeply moving, Julia Baird has written exactly the book we need for these times.

My Thoughts

The release of this book could not be more well timed with all that is currently going on in the world. Here author Julia Baird sheds light on seeking enjoyment through the little things in life,  purposefully recognising moments of awe that will assist in providing a move to mindfulness and acknowledgment of our place in the universe. She claims this book to be a ‘salve’ by finding the small things that keep one afloat in times of hardship, by seeking the comforts that keep you going.

‘... the answers to the question that inspired this book —how do we endure when suffering becomes unbearable and our obstacles seem monstrous? How do we continue to glow when the lights turn out? —are there, right in front of us, all the time. All we can do really is keep placing one foot on the earth, then the other, to seek out ancient paths and forests, certain in the knowledge that others have endured before us.’

Ask the right questions: 

‘instead of how do we stay happy, should we ask how do we survive, stay alive or even bloom when the world goes dark’

Take note of those special moments:

‘... we need to reach for those tiny drops of stillness. And they can fall throughout our day, in snatched or carved-out moments, even in the midst of working, commuting, loving.’

This book is a timely reminder to stay grounded even in uncertainty, positivity within brings a calm without. Take stock, take note, be reassured in the fact that little things can bring a lasting and positive impact to one’s life. Things to sustain you in moments of darkness.

‘... we have the ability to find, nurture and carry our own inner, living light —a light to ward off the darkness. This is not about burning brightly, but yielding simple phosphorescence —being luminous at temperatures below incandescence, quietly glowing without combusting.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: There's Something About Darcy

Title: There's Something About Darcy

Author: Gabrielle Malcolm

Publisher: 11th November 2019 by Endeavour Media

Pages: 268 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: Biographies & Memoirs , Nonfiction

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

For some, Colin Firth emerging from a lake in that clinging wet shirt is one of the most iconic moments in television. But what is it about the two-hundred-year-old hero that we so ardently admire and love?

Dr Gabrielle Malcolm examines Jane Austen’s influences in creating Darcy’s potent mix of brooding Gothic hero, aristocratic elitist and romantic Regency man of action. She investigates how he paved the way for later characters like Heathcliff, Rochester and even Dracula, and what his impact has been on popular culture over the past two centuries. For twenty-first century readers the world over have their idea of the ‘perfect’ Darcy in mind when they read the novel, and will defend their choice passionately.

In this insightful and entertaining study, every variety of Darcy jostles for attention: vampire Darcy, digital Darcy, Mormon Darcy and gay Darcy. Who does it best and how did a clergyman’s daughter from Hampshire create such an enduring character?

A must-read for every Darcy and Jane Austen fan.

My Thoughts

‘He is now an archetype that defines a whole strand of characters in fiction, drama, media and popular culture. These are identified by a single name - Darcy.’

I love everything Austen with Pride and Prejudice and  Mr Darcy being my all time favourite. So this book was a must read and proved to be so very interesting through its analysis of literature from Austen’s time right up to contemporary tales. Especially considering the latter, undoubtedly, the story of Darcy has been a worldwide phenomenon  with its impact on romance writing. 

Gabrielle Malcolm has undertaken a vast amount of research and I truly appreciated both comparative books discussions to character adaptations and fan fiction, even the inclusion of the web series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which I adored watching online. One cannot doubt the influence that Jane Austen has had on the literary world. Reading much like an essay, Gabrielle details literature, film and television examples that she analyses and ties back into the original. Character comparisons from the Bronte’s Rocherster or Heathcliff to modern day Edward Cullen or Christian Grey. From Bronte and Heyer, to Helen Fielding and Curtis Sittenfeld. From the big screen 1940s Laurence Olivier to 2005 with Matthew Macfadyen strolling through the misty field. From Bollywood to zombie adaptations ... it’s all here. 

‘Darcy’s story arc is one of personal development and the growth of self-knowledge, so that he gains insight into his feelings and the conflicting emotions that so trouble him.’

Garbrielle delivers a wealth of research in her bid to study the impact each of these portrayals, tied in to perception of character, has had on the legacy that is Austen and her Darcy. Be warned, this is a definite scholars account  of why this aristocratic hero has endured. There’s Something About Darcy may be too dry for some, contain too many spoilers of books unread for others, or lack the in depth analysis with its broad approach. However, for me, it was brilliant. 

Gabrielle Malcolm is to be commended for undertaking a book such as this, with an incredible eye for detail yet simultaneously presenting an engaging approach making it accessible to many. A must read for all Austenites as they are sure to appreciate this thorough and unique study of one of the most well loved characters in all of literary history. 

‘Darcy’s ability to change his views, modify his opinions .... and learn from his mistakes have powerfully impressed readers for the past 200 years.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: A Secret Sisterhood

Title: A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf

Author: Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney

Publisher: 17 October 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 336 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: biographies, memoir

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend; think Byron and Shelley, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world’s best-loved female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses. Coauthors and real-life friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney prove this wrong, thanks to their discovery of a wealth of surprising collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist author Mary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship fired by an underlying erotic charge.

Through letters and diaries that have never been published before, A Secret Sisterhood resurrects these forgotten stories of female friendships. They were sometimes scandalous and volatile, sometimes supportive and inspiring, but always—until now—tantalizingly consigned to the shadows.

My Thoughts

“... misleading myths of isolation have long attached themselves to women who write: a

cottage-dwelling spinster; an impassioned roamer of the moors; a fallen woman, shunned; a melancholic genius. Over the years, a conspiracy of silence has obscured the friendships of female authors, past and present. But now it is time to break the silence and celebrate this literary sisterhood - a glimmering web of interwoven threads that still has the power to unsettle, to challenge, to inspire.”

‘A Secret Sisterhood’ is an interesting book packed with loads of information, new insights and wonderful descriptions of friendship from times long gone. Reading more like a biography, it allows the reader to look at female literary friendships within the context of their writing.

Being a big Austen and Bronte fan, I was eager to see what new snippets would be brought to life. Thinking of these famous female authors (and understanding that writing is very much a solitary pursuit), one often sees them in isolation. This book reveals how much they were actively involved with others, sharing at times, revealing insights into their thinking. Either meeting in person or through their correspondence, one can learn a great deal more about the individual.

You do not have to be well versed on these writers, as a satisfactory amount of detail is provided by these authors. What they succeed in doing is portraying another aspect to these famous lives and how these friendships contributed to the writer’s lives. I learnt more about those I knew well eg. Jane Austen and was introduced to those I was unfamiliar with eg. George Eliot.

This is an extremely well researched book, impressively so. Dedicating three chapters to each of the writer’s, the authors shine a light on the importance of friendship to these famous women, through diaries, letters and other documents. The authors really do a fabulous job of inviting you into a ‘secret sisterhood’ and sharing details I knew little of.

If you are in any way intrigued by any of these literary heroines, or you are interested in literary history, then I highly recommend you take some time to discover this ‘Secret Sisterhood’.

“In piecing together the lost stories of these four trailblazing pairs, we have found alliances that were sometimes illicit, scandalous, and volatile; sometimes supportive, radical, or inspiring but, until now, tantalizingly consigned to the shadows.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release