A Distant Prospect – ISBN 9780987435101

Mrs Epstein

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

Sydney Conservatorium early 1920s — Paul from Dublin says “it was a joy” to read authentic Irish phrases in A Distant Prospect. Congratulations on a most uplifting epic, Annette! So seldom is it possible to find authors of fiction who set out to inspire, who are conscious that each one of us is called to […]

An Irish Review – each of us is called to ...

August 30, 2014 in Irish / Mrs Epstein / Reviews by francis

Keep Calm and let the music teacher handle it — Annette’s character Mrs Epstein is far more than a music teacher. (Most music teachers are!) In Chapter Eight of A Distant Prospect, Mrs Epstein insists that Lucy can, and will, play in a string quartet, for the good of others as well as Lucy’s. Mrs Epstein had very weak, dark […]

Keep calm, and thank your music teacher!

August 17, 2014 in Lucy Straughan / Mrs Epstein / Music by francis

Lucy’s leg callipers gave this Great War veteran an opening for the black humour that helped him cope with his lost mobility. ‘I got mine at Bellicourt. Where’d you get yours?’ he asked me when I shook his hand, and he indicated my legs with a raise of an eyebrow […]

Music for war veterans

August 3, 2014 in Mrs Epstein / Music / North Sydney / Suffering / War by francis

Are you loving the music in Annette’s story? Lots of readers are bringing the rich musical repertoire of A Distant Prospect gloriously to life, by enjoying performances they find online. Here, for instance, Leonard Rose (cello) and Glenn Gould (piano) play the first movement of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in A […]

Enjoying Beethoven cello and violin sonatas with Lucy and Della

June 5, 2014 in Beethoven / Cello / Della Sotheby / Lucy Straughan / Mrs Epstein / Music / Violin by francis