December: The Countdown Begins!

I can hardly believe that we are just over a week away from the launch of Switchback here in Melbourne and things are thankfully falling into place quite nicely. It has been so good to see the interest generated in the memoir now that is generally available to order or buy worldwide. It’s a great encourager for the writer! Thank you. 

Don’t forget to check our “How to Buy” section (see the menu above at the top of this page) if you have any queries about how and where to purchase or need the ISBN for the various formats. If you order now you should receive your purchases well in time for Christmas!

Talking about that section, some people have asked me about the clay figurines pictured therein…

The story behind the Sculptures

Well, I became very keen on clay modelling in my art and craft  class in my teenage years at The Godolphin boarding school in  Salisbury, UK. There is a lot about my school life in the memoir, but I think  I made these figurines when I was about fourteen in 1953. I  made  the models from some of my memories of my earlier happy years in Egypt. Now, I am amazed at the detail that I had noticed as a very young child, and how I remembered these intracacies for so many years to make  them into these figures. I am even more surprised that one man’s thin hookah pipe survived the firing of the pottery and the subsequent journey to Australia, years later plus umpteen house moves! They now sit on my balcony surveying the scene over the rooftops, to the River Yarra and a parkland of gum trees beyond.  

Switchback describes much of my life, times and memory of the places  and people that inspired these models and my reflections on why they have been so important to me. Just as they have survived my outer journey they are highly symbolic of my inner development. They are therefore central to this memoir.