A Distant Prospect – ISBN 9780987435101

francis

“Salzburg, Austria, in the last golden days of the ’30s.” That is how director William Wyler begins his 1965 film of The Sound of Music; and it equally describes the 1937 Vienna of By Violence Unavenged. Here for your enjoyment are some songs and music from the story and the […]

Listen to music from By Violence Unavenged

June 1, 2019 in By Violence Unavenged / Music / Vienna by francis

“A fascinating novel” is Australian philosopher John Young’s assessment of A Distant Prospect. After he attended Annette’s recent book club event in Melbourne, Thomistic philosophy lecturer John Young generously wrote a full-page review of A Distant Prospect that has just appeared in News Weekly magazine’s 30th July 2016 edition, for print subscribers and online at http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=57389 Thomism’s philosophical approach […]

Philosophy lecturer John Young reviews A Distant Prospect

July 29, 2016 in Reviews by francis

Annette 29 April 2016 — Join Annette Young 7pm this Friday 29 April, for a fun evening about life, writing, and the universe! There might even be some secrets from her wartime sequel to A Distant Prospect! RSVP Mary Long 0409 979 923 if you can, or just turn up to Caroline Chisholm Library, level […]

Annette is in Melbourne this Friday!

April 26, 2016 in Events by francis

A Distant Prospect paperback edition — AUTHOR OFFER: $20 per copy for signed and personally dedicated copies of A Distant Prospect, plus $10 postage for any quantity, within Australia only. If you don’t need my autograph, you can check the Booko live price checker for your best local price including postage, at https://booko.com.au/9780987435101/A-Distant-Prospect $10 postage for as many […]

SPECIAL OFFER: Signed copies $20 each plus postage

December 13, 2015 in Promotion by francis

http://eu.steinway.com/en/news-events/press-releases/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ — Mathematics crops up throughout A Distant Prospect as one of the intellectual avenues which Lucy employs to make sense of life in a world that is not always as one would wish. Fibonacci numbers and leg calipers were Lucy’s first impressions on her bemused classmates at St Dominics in February […]

Lucy, Fibonacci and the Golden Mean

November 7, 2015 in Lucy Straughan / Mathematics by francis

Preliminary character diagram for volume 3. France. — Here’s a preliminary diagram of my characters for volume 3. I wonder where they will take me? Vienna is mostly done, now for France. Click the picture for a closer look, and sign up to my email list for updates as the sequel gets closer.

Sketching my characters for the sequel – France

September 29, 2015 in Annette / Characters / Sequel / Writing by francis

A new, one-minute book trailer captures the poignancy and beauty of Lucy’s story, with visuals of Galway and 1920s Sydney. Borodin’s beautiful Nocturne, third movement from his String Quartet No. 2 in D major, sets the mood. Paired in a program with Haydn’s “Fifths” quartet, this music features in the key climax […]

Irish-English Book Trailer for A Distant Prospect

July 3, 2015 in Book production / Borodin / Galway / Reviews / Video by francis

Diverse examples of a mother’s love play an important role in A Distant Prospect. Della Sotheby’s socialite mother seems to say some clumsy or unfeeling things, but we discover another side of her in the unselfish choices she made for her children during the war, and all of her inner […]

Mothers and daughters in A Distant Prospect

May 31, 2015 in Characters / Motherhood / Mrs Epstein by francis

Annette is delighted that Denver-based Sonlight Curriculum, which is celebrating its 25th year in 2015, has selected A Distant Prospect as one of its Summer Reader choices. She is especially pleased by the way in which Jonelle brings out the carefully woven inter-generational themes in her video review below. Thank […]

“A book my Mom and I couldn’t put down.” – ...

May 30, 2015 in Reviews / Suffering / Video by francis

A Distant Prospect is “a rare find in a sea of mediocre modern novels” according to Jacinta Woodnutt, writing at Restless Press. “I couldn’t put it down for days,” she writes, echoing the most common sentiment expressed in reader reviews. A Distant Prospect “conveys truth, goodness and beauty; but it […]

A rare find in a sea of mediocre modern novels

April 27, 2015 in Reviews by francis

Sonlight's 20th Century Literature sub-package 330 — Character, culture, plot, emotion, language. Only two or three books per hundred meet all of these tough criteria! If you ever need to choose truly memorable fiction books, whether for yourself, your children, or your school, you could do worse than add these seven benchmarks to your arsenal. Sarita Holzmann, […]

The Seven Pillars of Great Fiction, or how to choose ...

April 25, 2015 in Reviews / Writing by francis

Lest We Forget — What are the origins of the Dawn Service tradition, and why does it matter? Few were left unscathed by the Great War. We still witness many of its lasting impacts in the 1928 Sydney setting of A Distant Prospect. Indeed, the very first Dawn Service was quietly held in Sydney in […]

Anzac Day Dawn Service – Lest We Forget

April 23, 2015 in War by francis

Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940) — Roderick Raye is arguably the key character in A Distant Prospect, and to quite a few readers, the most beloved. Having established himself as a violinist in the Viennese music scene before the outbreak of the Great War, Phoebe Raye’s father had returned to Ballarat and subsequently enlisted in the […]

Roderick John Raye Trooper 13th Lighthorse

April 21, 2015 in Phoebe Raye / Roderick Raye / War by francis

Calling all teachers! Annette is preparing a Teacher’s Study Guide for A Distant Prospect, and will soon be seeking some volunteers who have read the book, to take a look and offer their suggestions. Of course, A Distant Prospect is wonderful to simply read as an engaging and uplifting story […]

Study Guide for A Distant Prospect – testers needed!

April 16, 2015 in Annette / Book production / Study Guide / Writing by francis

Researching pre-Anschluss Vienna for her dramatic sequel, Annette saw something puzzling – the trams seemed to change from left to right in the same streets. How could this be? Today Vienna has about 200 km of tramways. At its peak in 1930 there were an astounding 318 km of tram […]

The day Hitler reversed Vienna’s trams

March 21, 2015 in Railways / Research / Vienna by francis

Time for a shelfie — Four notebooks full, writes Annette, and her loyal fans rejoice! A few insights into the writing process as the sequel to A Distant Prospect comes together. Lots of reading, lots of sketching, lots of typing. And, finally, here’s a “shelfie” with some of Annette’s latest research reads, focussing on Vienna […]

Here’s how Annette writes a sequel ….

January 17, 2015 in Annette / Sequel / Writing by francis

Charming Jozsef Karoly von Habsburg discussed with Annette Young her sequel to A Distant Prospect, particularly her research into Vienna between the wars, when they met last week in Sydney. Part of her sequel occurs in late 1930s Austria, stripped of its empire, under siege from all directions, and impoverished […]

Annette meets Jozsef Karoly von Habsburg

December 17, 2014 in Research / Sequel / Vienna / Writing by francis

Hunter Valley Violins, Newcastle — Writing stunningly beautiful descriptions of musical performance takes a lot of hard work! Today Annette Young, who is an accomplished pianist and competent cellist, visited luthier David Robertson at Hunter Valley Violins in Newcastle, to continue researching the world of violins, bow-holds, strings and playing techniques. The sequel to A […]

Researching violins for the powerful sequel

November 22, 2014 in Research / Sequel / Violin by francis