Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: begining

  • Starting From Now

    Starting From Now

    Once again, Fleur McDonald has delivered a well-crafted novel wrapped around the very real issue of animal activism in rural areas, looking at the destructive aspect of activism when it is taken too far.

    This latest compelling novel, Starting from Now is once again about endings and new beginnings, about grief and finding solace in the most unexpected of places. Set in the sleepy country town of Barker, the home of Detective Dave Burrows, Constable Jack Higgins, and other firm friends, we meet another one of the towns families, the Ellison family, long-time residents and graziers in the district.

    Zara Ellison left Barker to pursue a career as a rural journalist, becoming an award winner for her Rural reporting, building a very full life in Adelaide to that of country living. When she gets a phone call from her mother asking her to come home, it is a call she has been dreading, as it means her brother Will’s cancer has progressed far quicker than anticipated.

    She packs up her life in Adelaide, heading once again for home and dreading every kilometre of the journey drawing her ever closer to the tragic loss of her father several years before, and now the terribly final realisation about her brother and his cancer.

    Still having to earn a living she decides that one of the first things she needs to do is introduce herself to the Stock agent and the Police in Barker to ensure she is able to be in touch with the latest rural events over the coming months.

    A high-profile trial in Melbourne in relation to the death of a Voices For Animals protestor covered by Zara Ellison, was to have far reaching tendrils she discovered, once a series of rather unusual events began to occur out on her family property and friends farms with the drones flying over paddocks and a devastating farm accident occurring.

    Over the next few weeks she begins to settle into rural life, coming to know Dave and Jack better, and although she realises that she is not a farm girl at heart, there is something rather special about life in a rural town that is comforting, relaxing and refreshing, after her somewhat hectic life in the city.

    When she goes to cover another story on Animal Activist protests, she inadvertently stumbles across Jack acting completely out of character, looking like a serious tough guy who would not like to be messed with. Exactly what is going on her and what should she do about it?

    Amidst the pain of losing her brother, the heady rush of covering a story that holds far more than ever imagined and a fresh new start beginning to emerge from the sorrow of the past, Zara finds life in the country far more exciting that she ever imagined.

     

    Another wonderful, warm, engaging and very authentic novel straight from the pages of country life, dealing with the very real issues faced by many living in regional Australia.

     

     

  • Visions & Emotions

    Visions & Emotions

    There are very few musicians that can contribute much of their skill to their Aunt Mable, but such is the case for Aleksandra Takala as her Aunt Mable, who took her to see ‘Hair’ back in the day, gave her an old player piano which did not even have the full 88 keys.

    Piano lessons followed at $6.00 per lesson from a lady with a great love of the classics, which at the end of the year under her tuition saw Takala composing her first song.  She was 25 years old when she was given that piano, had already some sad experience with life and love, and was beginning to commence a journey into the world of music that was to become her passion

    That diverse background growing up is reflected in her music as she firmly believes that no matter what comes along in life, it never too late to begin something new.

    Each of the songs has a back story such as World Traveller, written in tribute to her mother who finally got to live her dream of travelling outside of the States to such places as China, India and the Amazon River.

    Passing Clouds is unashamedly at 10 minute song written in the studio where there are no clocks to remind of the passing of time, a place where freedom to let the music flow is as the passing of clouds in the sky, blown into new shapes and formations by unseen and heard winds.

    A rather funky, ‘tongue-in-cheek’ tribute to the hurry up society of modern holiday makers is Road Trip (Hurry Up & Slow Down)which is a little something of which we are all guilty, on a so called leisurely holiday. Ah, the plans we all do make!

    Groundwater is a dainty song reminiscent of the waltz, where it is very easy to relax into a time that was slower, more peaceful. It is a stately piece rich in strings, which was written to accompany a set of lyrics penned for Takala’s local choir, reflective of a commune in the forest, a campfire, with night fog slowly drifting in, winding around the base of the trees, settling along the ground; mystical and mysterious.

    A Caribbean orchestra heralds in the final piece on this rather unusual, but very enjoyable collection of songs with Moonlight over Havana, a place rich in history, romantic liaisons and culture. A rich full moon, the exotic, atmosphere, of the tropics at night, the romance of a couple swaying together deeply in love, have been carefully and skilfully woven into the captivating finale.

    In this her debut album, Takala has chosen to share her immense talent and many of her family stories, to create the tapestry that is Visons and Emotions. Different, enjoyable, intriguing and full bodied, Aleksandra Takala’s music covers a wide and diverse range of genres which offers something for everyone.