Caught in the Net

You may have noticed that I love a cheesy pun. Also that it's time for the return of some bloggedy goodness into the lives of Literature loving folks everywhere....well, perhaps in a certain North Eastern 'burb.

I am zinging with excitement at the thought of beginning our next adventure: The Shark Net. This novel certainly resonates with me in some weirdly personal way.

Almost exactly 5 years ago, my geologist husband scooped me out of my snug, lifetime-membership to a cosy, Melbourne existence and dragged me 3000kms westward to the land of Wait Awhile. This place can certainly be a shock to the system to a gal from what passes for the big (cultural) smoke in our little but large, brown land.

I can imagine Robert Drewe, although a child in a quieter, more traditional time, would have felt some similar sense of culture-shock to begin with.

Perth has, without a doubt, the absolute best weather in this country and from my limited travel abroad, I might be quietly confident in proclaiming it the best weather in the world. Everything moves at this relaxed, languid, chilled level. I took my collection of ten or so Melbourne winter coats, which we wear pretty much from April to November, and left them in the back of the closet; short-sleeves were still de rigueur till about July, when the longer sleeved tops would come out.

My first reading of The Shark Net was in Freo earlier this year, eerily close to so many landmarks from the novel, including the gaol where Cooke was hanged. I've just re-read it on the plane, returning yet again from this city one struggles to live in but which seems somehow to slither furtively into one's consciousness.

Well, enough about me. We will be beginning this Wednesday with some historical context, then moving onto....wait for it....Oral presentations! I can hear the groans from here.

See you soon!