Intro: Denise Wilkowski is a retired secondary school principal who lived in Darwin for 40 years after being recruited in 1975 as a Cyclone Tracy relief teacher. She’s been a fanatical reader since the age of three, when her nine-year-old sister taught her to read.
Denise has a passion for books and travel, greatly influenced by the fact her favourite subjects to teach were geography, history and tourism. Since moving to Halcyon Landing on the Sunshine Coast, Denise has taken up card making, jewellery making, knitting and joined the Halcyon Singers. She also keeps active by walking up to four times a week with two Halcyon friends and is a self-confessed line dancing tragic.
THE ONE HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED
By Jonas Jonasson
Published by Hyperion Books
RRP $19.99
This book is best described as a black comedy. The main character is Allan Karlsson who after a long and eventful life finds himself in a nursing home. On his one hundredth birthday and faced with a huge party organised by the home which he does not want, Allan decides to escape. He climbs out of his window and begins a hilarious adventure. As the story unravels about Allan and his merry band of fellow travellers, the reader learns about his quirky former life. The joy of this book comes from discovering who Allan was involved with and as a result, influenced some of the most important historic events of the 21st century.
“A great feel-good book, it is pure entertainment, both funny and charming.”
AGAINST ALL ODDS
By Craig Challen and Richard Harris with Ellis Henican
Published by Viking
RRP $34.99
In June/July 2018, the world held its breath and waited for news about the Wild Boar Soccer Team trapped deep in a complex cave system in Thailand. The young boys and their coach were finally rescued one-by-one due to the ingenuity of an international cave diving team which included two Australians Craig Challen and Richard Harris.
Craig and Richard were chosen because of their world recognised expertise as cave divers and their medical knowledge. Amazingly, they remained calm and focussed under extreme pressure from the Thai politicians, the world media, their own mental and physical exhaustion, and at times, self-doubt.
“Even though I knew the outcome I found this book absolutely riveting.”
THE LAST PAINTING OF SARAH-DE-VOS
By Dominic Smith
Published by Picador
RRP $19.99
When the current owner of the reputed 1631 last painting by Dutch artist Sarah De-Vos discovers it’s a forgery, he hires a private detective to find the perpetrators. Meanwhile, a struggling Australian graduate student in New York agrees to paint a forgery of the De-Vos when half a century later she is faced with a conundrum. She is curating an exhibition of female Dutch painters and there is the possibility that both versions could arrive.
This book is mesmerising, suspenseful and dramatic. The author ingeniously takes the reader through three alternating timelines and locations to tell the story of the painting and how it impacts on three lives.
“Historical, contemporary art fiction at its best.”
