A Distant Prospect – ISBN 9780987435101

Places

Places

“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 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

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

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

Stocktake time. Haven’t done a precise word count but I’m about 30,000 words into Part II – trans. The Vienna section. Needless to say, I am pleased. I also realise how little I know and how much I need to ‘grow up’. The flip side is that I have learned […]

Vienna takes shape!

October 8, 2014 in Annette / Phoebe Raye / Sequel / Vienna / Writing 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

Click the picture for a (slightly) closer look... — Annette Young today gave readers a rare public glimpse of her notes for the exciting sequel to A Distant Prospect! Post by Annette Young. So, what do we actually know? Not much more than Wien and wine! We left our characters in January 1929, and now we have a map […]

Wien und wine! Sneak peek at Annette’s sequel under construction!

July 26, 2014 in Annette / Maps / Sequel / Vienna / Writing by francis

Albury steam locomotive 1930 — Colonial rivalry saw different rail guages in Victoria and New South Wales, making Albury’s impressive station “All change!” for passengers and goods, when the lines met on 14 June 1863. Albury’s 455-metre platform accommodates two full-length trains. In 1847-48 all three colonies had adopted England’s 4’8 1/2″ standard rail guage, […]

Albury “All change!”, Australian rail guage and Roderick’s “Bally Rat”

June 15, 2014 in Ballarat / Phoebe Raye / Railways / Roderick Raye by francis

In 1904 leading Sydney retailer Mark Foy established the fabulous Hydro-Majestic Hotel as a health resort built upon reputed natural springs in the Blue Mountains. He even convinced the government to change the locality name from Medlow, to Medlow Bath. Unfortunately it appears that he was misinformed, because there were […]

Hydro-Majestic Hotel, Medlow Bath

June 13, 2014 in Blue Mountains / Della Sotheby / Wally Sotheby by francis

With a tree planted for each soldier from Ballarat who enlisted in the Great War, the Avenue of Honour was planted from 1917 to 1919 and stretches 22 km along the Western Highway, consisting of 3,771 trees. The completed Avenue was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1920, and […]

Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour and Phoebe’s father

May 25, 2014 in Ballarat / Phoebe Raye / Roderick Raye / War by francis

Balmoral Beach 1929, Samuel Wood. Public domain. — Picturesque Balmoral Beach is one of Annette Young’s special places. Balmoral was a friendly alcove with waves that delighted in whispering secrets to the sand. Benny greeted his lady friend on the promenade and left us to set up our own picnic which we chose to do on the beach. […]

Balmoral Beach picnic, 1928

May 10, 2014 in Annette / Balmoral / Polio / Sydney by francis

Annette found this bit of nonsense while researching Austria for her sequel to A Distant Prospect. We may never know how many Austrian cyclists lost their tuned bicycle horns to make this clip, but it was worth it! More clues about the sequel will be revealed here in due course, […]

Austrian bicycle horns – A little nonsense!

May 4, 2014 in Fun / Music / Sequel / Vienna by francis

Lucy here describes her home in County Galway, which she fled aged 8 in 1921, and how it compares to the house which her da found for them in Sydney’s Newtown. ‘It was a little four room cottage with a thatched roof and a hearth. A kitchen there was in […]

An Irish girl in a strange land

March 16, 2014 in Irish / Lucy Straughan / Newtown / Sydney by francis

Erin go braugh — May 20-26, 1928, was Empire Shopping Week, but Lucy was having none of it! Enjoy this meticulous piece of historical detail in A Distant Prospect, by Annette Young: We resumed our walk up King Street and paused occasionally to look at the window displays. It was Empire Week and the […]

St Patrick’s Day vs Empire Week – Erin go braugh!

March 13, 2014 in Della Sotheby / Irish / Lucy Straughan / Newtown by francis

The vibrant cultural scene in December 1928 saw at least five performances of Handel’s Messiah in Sydney Town Hall, so of course Annette Young wrote one into A Distant Prospect! The first Messiah to raise the roof was by the 600-voice Welsh Choral Society on 8 December, repeating its success […]

Christmas isn’t Christmas without Handel’s Messiah

December 21, 2013 in Lucy Straughan / Music / Sydney by francis

In 1928, the arches of the Bridge were still two years from meeting, but already this massive undertaking was a sign of confidence for a hopeful future, one worthy of such a mighty public work. In A Distant Prospect its slow but inexorable progress symbolises the hope of a better […]

Sydney Harbour Bridge

November 19, 2013 in Lucy Straughan / Morgan Straughan / Sydney by francis

Della Sotheby’s high society mother always stayed up to date, so The Home magazine was essential to her thoroughly modern household. Quoting a 1929 advertisement: “The Home is the one authority in Australia in matters of good taste and has come to be recognised as one of the finest journals […]

The Home Magazine (1920-1942)

August 23, 2013 in Art / Della Sotheby / Sydney by francis

Annette Young at Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of NSW, 23 August 2013 — Until October 7, catch Sydney moderns, art for a new world at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, showcasing art and photography from the 1920s and 1930s. Featuring the iconic The Bridge in-curve 1930, by Grace Cossington Smith, which is also the cover art of A Distant Prospect, the […]

Sydney Moderns at the Art Gallery of NSW

July 7, 2013 in Art / Events / Morgan Straughan / Sydney by francis