Recent Books
116 Elmwood Ave.
Joshua Heller Rare Books Inc. |
Recent Book Words and Images Copyright © Douglas Holleley 1998, and again in revised form, 2008. NOTES ISBN: 978-0-9707138-4-1 $19.95 ADAMINABY is the name of a town in southern New South Wales, Australia. This town was sacrificed for the common good in the 1950’s when the waters of what is now Lake Eucumbene submerged it forever. This lake was created during the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast project of tunnels and dams that diverted rivers originally flowing east, westwards to water the arid interior of Australia. The story personifies this place as a beautiful, generous and kind woman of the same name. Her spiritual and earthly duty was to ensure the well being of the valley of which she was the caretaker. The story is somewhat sad, as inevitably Adaminaby must accept the white man’s definition of progress. The narrative is expressed in a mythical manner and pays homage to the long-standing Australian tradition of story-telling that extends from the dreamtime to the present day. Review by Aidan Nolan This should become a children's classic for adults, at least in Australia. A true, necessary but sad tale of "progress" recounted in a spiritual context without judgment or bias that will capture the imagination on the first page. Outstanding "bedtime story" reading for children the language is lush and, unlike most stories children will enjoy, does not condescend or patronize. In fact, this essay into a kind of white Australian dreamtime will enrich any child's vocabulary and imagination. I write this as a children's educator of some 15 years. For those outside Australia this book will take adult or child, separate or together, into the often indescribable landscape and fauna of Australia and the mysterious wonder that all Australians and their visitors know exists there in the unique "bush". This enchanted story and imaginative illustration are very highly recommended. Recent Book This book was originally produced for my parents as a gift for their sixtieth wedding anniversary. In its original form the only text was a greeting wishing them congratulations and expressing my thanks for their commitment to each other and to my brothers and I. The account of the “homesick” dream has been added to this edition and the original text has been replaced with something a little more public. I have decided to do this as the original context was very personal and I did not feel comfortable sharing these sentiments with others outside of my immediate family. In doing so however, I realize that the book is now more about me rather than them. Per- haps this is not ideal. All the same, I feel better about presenting what is mine to share than that which is not. This book is dedicated to my parents, Doug and Mary Holleley of Sydney, Australia. This edition is printed and bound by SharedInk. Covers are cloth-covered board with hand-made endpapers and vellum fly sheets. Size is 6x8 inches, 36 pages. The books are printed on demand but the total number of books produced is limited to 32 copies. |