Hear This 25th July 2025

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:25):
Inside the book. Take a look.

S2 (00:34):
Hello and welcome to hear this. I'm Frances Keeland and
you're listening to the Vision Australia Library radio show, where
we talk about books in the Vision Australia library collection.
Today we have some reader recommended and a few books
of different varieties, so I do hope you enjoy the show.

(00:57):
Let's start off with some reader recommended and these come
from Sheila. Thank you Sheila. And they're books that Sheila
feels people will probably be able to relate to. The
first one is The Radio Hour by Victoria Hanum. Martha
Berry is 50 years old, a spinster and one of
an army of polite and invisible women. In 1956, Sydney,

(01:19):
who go to work each day and get things done
without fuss, fanfare or reward. Working at the country's national broadcaster,
she's seen highly praised talent come and go over the years.
But when she is sent to work as a secretary
on a brand new radio serial created to follow in
the footsteps of Australia's longest running show, Blue Hills, she

(01:41):
finds herself at the mercy of an egotistical and erratic
young producer without a clue. A conservative broadcaster frightened by
the word pregnant, and a motley cast of actors with
ideas of their own about their roles in the show.
When Martha is forced to step in to rescue the
serial from impending cancellation, she ends up secretly ghost writing

(02:03):
scripts for As the Sun Sets, creating mayhem with management
and coming up with storylines that resonate with the cereals
growing and loyal audience of women listeners. But she can't
keep her secret forever. And when she's threatened with exposure,
Martha has to decide if she wants to remain in
the shadows or to finally step into the spotlight. Let's

(02:25):
hear a sample of The Radio Hour by Victoria Panum.
It's narrated by Jenny Vuletic.

S3 (02:32):
Chapter one, in which our heroine, spinster secretary and loyal daughter,
Miss Martha Berry, discovers she's about to embark on a
new assignment. Miss Berry, I'm sending you to work with
one of our new radio producers. Sitting across from Mr.
Rutherford Hayes, Martha Berry could almost see her reflection in

(02:53):
his gleaming mahogany desk. She'd made sure to shine it
with furniture polish that very morning, just the way he
liked it, and had double checked that the black Bakelite
ashtray onto which he tap tap tapped. His ubiquitous pipe
was empty, too. It had been clean as a whistle
first thing that morning, but now resembled the ruins of Pompeii.

(03:13):
The national broadcaster's head of drama was rather fond of
his tobacco. I see, Martha replied, holding a smile on
her face. She sat perfectly still, the way she'd been
taught as a girl. Her hands were cupped politely in
her lap, her legs crossed at the ankle, just like
the queen. That way there was no risk of her
underwear ever being exposed. Her back was ramrod straight, even

(03:38):
without the aid of a corset. These were skills she
had learnt 35 years before at secretarial college. Don't fidget.
Only speak when spoken to. Never, ever take a risk
that someone might see your underwear. And always, always remain polite.
While Mr. Hays puffed and stared into the middle distance,

(04:00):
Martha's attention drifted to the framed photograph of Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth the Second on the wall behind him. It
needed straightening. How could she have missed that? This young
chap is kicking off a new radio serial. Quentin Quinn's
his name. Mr. Hayes sucked on his pipe, leant back
in his chair and exhaled a locomotive. Engines worth of

(04:23):
smoke right across the desk and directly into Martha's face.
She swallowed a cough. Everyone at the ABC is in
a permanent state of apoplexy about the arrival of television.

S2 (04:34):
And that was the radio hour by Victoria Burnham. Victoria
is v I t o v I c t o
r I. Panum is p u r n a p
u n a. And that book goes for ten hours.

(04:54):
There's a couple of other books by Victoria Burnham in
the collection. There's the Land Girls, set in Melbourne in
1942 during the Second World War, again centering on the
character of Flora Atkins, who's in a dull office job.
So the land girls. There's also the Nurses War, set

(05:16):
in 1915, and this time we are following the footsteps
of Sister Cora Baker, who who leaves her home in
Australia for England are determined to use her skills for
king and country. The Radio Hour was released in 2024.
There are a lot of really positive reviews by book

(05:38):
bloggers for the Radio Hour. Some of the favorable reviews
call it a wonderful immersion into the golden age of
radio in the 1950s. Engaging historical fiction. Bargain sleuth called
the Radio Hour. Or they say it has all the
wonderful feminist vibes of lessons in chemistry, but set in

(05:59):
Australia's public radio scene of the 50s. Booktopia call it charming,
funny and pointed. Peninsula records and Books say it is
written with wit, warmth and a keen eye for detail.
Sounds like a really lovely read and as Sheila has said,
many people who were around at the 50s will remember

(06:20):
this era. The second book Sheila recommended is The Sea
Changes by Meredith Appleyard. It's never too late for a
new beginning. At 57, Ruth made a successful sea change.
She relocated from the city to the country and opened
Rosie's Cafe in the seaside town of Cutler's Bay. Business boomed,

(06:42):
but five years on, the shine has worn off. Where
has that other Ruth gone? The independent, feisty woman who'd
had the courage to sell up in the city and
move to the country. Even the bathroom mirror is reflecting
back someone she doesn't quite recognise. Graying hair wrinkles, the
sparkle all but gone from her blue eyes. Ruth is

(07:02):
convinced she has to make a change. If only she
could decide what. After a lifetime of hard work out Bush,
Hamish has retired to the city for a life of
comfort and ease. It's what he always dreamed of. So
why doesn't he feel satisfied? When his 89 year old
father dies, Hamish comes to Cutler's Bay to settle his affairs.

(07:23):
At first, packing up the house and renovating it to
sell is both a filial duty and a welcome project
to fill his days. As the work energizes him, Hamish wonders,
was retiring a mistake? The longer he's in town, the
more Cutler's bay starts to feel like home, and a
certain cafe owner makes the idea of staying there all

(07:45):
the more appealing. Let's hear a sample of Sea Changes
by Meredith Appleyard. It's narrated by a couple of different narrators.
One of them is Kenneth Radley.

S4 (07:56):
I flipped the sign on the door of Rosie's Cafe
from close to open, and caught a glimpse of my
tired self reflected in the glass. It was 8:00 Tuesday
morning again. Where had the past week gone? There were
tentative signs of life on the main street, and the
visible line of sky was an uninspiring gunmetal grey. Parked

(08:18):
along the curb opposite the cafe stood the usual lineup
of tradies vehicles. The hardware opened at 730. So did
the bakery with their menu of iced coffees, meat pies
and sticky buns. I yawned and polished away a smudge
of fingerprints with the corner of my apron. A delivery
truck lumbered past litter skittered in its wake. Good morning,

(08:40):
Cutlass Bay. Rosie's cafe was closed Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.
Over the years, I'd lost count of how many well
meaning customers had advised me that I was crazy for
not opening every day. But Mondays and public holidays were non-negotiable.
Not even during the summer break, when folk flocked to
the seaside towns on the Yorke Peninsula. But the Sundays

(09:05):
I'd reluctantly put aside my own needs and bowed to
local pressure to open the cafe, but only over the
holiday season. Rosie's only opened from nine until two on
the weekends, but the summer days were long and the
cafe was at its busiest. I needed my Mondays off
because when was I supposed to go to the dentist
or the doctor, do my own shopping, or visit a

(09:27):
friend and have them make me a coffee? Or, heaven forbid,
leave town for a few hours. Now, with December a
mere month away, an insidious dread curled its way into
my stomach every time I thought about giving up one
of my precious days off. My days off didn't come
around quickly enough, or last long enough as it was.

(09:50):
Often they'd be baking to do tea towels and aprons
to wash, and supplies to be ordered for the coming week,
and the banking and any extraneous paperwork.

S2 (09:59):
And that was a sample of the sea changes by
Meredith Appleyard. Meredith is m e I t h m
e r I t h. Appleyard is a. A a
p y a and that book goes for ten hours

(10:22):
and 45 minutes. There is another book by Meredith Appleyard
in the collection called Becoming Beth. Again, the main character
is a 58 year old Beth who's lived her life
with blinkers on, repressing the memory of a teenage trauma.
And like the sea changes. It comes under the category
of perceptive fiction and Australian fiction. On her webpage, Meredith Appleyard,

(10:49):
she talks about being born and raised in a farming
community in the Murray Mallee region of rural South Australia,
and says her heart will always be in the country.
And when I'm not physically there, I yearn to return
these days. Home is the Clare Valley wine growing region
in South Australia. My ongoing fascination with the complexities of

(11:09):
small country communities, the characters I've met and the experiences
I've had are all reflected in the novels I've written
and the ones I'm planning better reading. Call it a thoughtful, charming,
and sensitive read books, which is. Also add. It's about
the resilience and the delight of rediscovery. It's never too

(11:32):
late for a new beginning. Thank you, Sheila, for those
two recommendations. Now to Jimmy Barnes with the latest release
Into the Library, which is Highways and Byways Tall Tales
and Short Stories from the Long Way Round. From larger
than life adventures to vivid and poignant tales of the imagination,

(11:54):
Highways and Byways is a collection of stories taking listeners
on an enthralling tour, complete with the odd detour through
the raucous, well-lived life of one of this country's most
successful and beloved artists. Told with Jimmy's signature verve and flair,
and richly coloured by his distinctive voice and wit. Highways

(12:14):
and Byways sees him sharing a 1970s Texas stage with
a dream lineup of US musicians flirting with disaster in
in in Hawaiian high rise. Discovering a life changing cassette tape.
Unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow. Encountering charismatic and not
so endearing superstars. Ghosts of the recent and distant past,

(12:39):
superfan traffic cops and shady salesmen, and confronting his own
mortality while pondering the more amusing effects of hospital medication.
Let's hear a sample of Highways and Byways, Tall Tales
and Short Stories from The Long Way Round by Jimmy Barnes,
and it's narrated by Jimmy Barnes.

S5 (12:59):
It seems that I always start writing after some sort
of health scare raises its ugly head. I struggle with ADHD,
and it's become obvious to me that unless I'm bedridden
and I can't move, I have way too much on
my plate to sit still long enough to write anything
more than a thank you note. This time round, my
calendar was suddenly cleared for months on end from late 2023,

(13:22):
thanks to a friendly little staph infection that wanted to
kill me, which led to two rounds of surgery, including
open heart surgery. Once again, I was stuck flat on
my back with a lot of time for reading, which,
as it usually does, encourages me to start writing again.
There's an old Scottish phrase what's fir ye will no
go by ye, which basically means if something's meant to be,

(13:43):
then it will be. So I accepted the situation, told
myself I was meant to be writing, and started a
new book. The title was somewhat ironic, as the only
highways and byways I could visit were the ones in
my head ever since my first memoir, Working Class Boy,
reading and writing have helped me get back on my
feet metaphorically. But this time it was true. Literally. Telling

(14:06):
these stories provided a much needed focus as I rebuilt
my concentration and strength, reading both inspired and consoled me,
especially reading the many letters of sympathy and support I received.
I'm truly grateful for all of them. And there were
a timely reminder of how words can help us all heal.
I soon slipped into a daily routine, not the familiar

(14:27):
loud rhythms of travel soundcheck gig travel that I've known
since I was in my teens. But a new regime
of early morning physio and exercise near our home, followed
by a few hours of sitting in silence, sipping coffee
and writing at my desk. I was itching to return
to the rock'n'roll life I know best, of course, but
it still felt good to get back into some kind

(14:49):
of groove.

S2 (14:50):
And that was a sample of Highways and Byways, Tall
Tales and Short Stories from The Long Way Round by
Jimmy Barnes, Jimmy G. Barnes. Baa baa e it's a
short one. Goes for 44 hours and 43 minutes. If

(15:11):
you like Jimmy telling stories from his life, there are
others in the collection as well. There's Killing time. Short
stories from the Long Road Home again, looking at his
rock and roll life and narrated again by Jimmy Barnes.
And we have working class boy and working class man,
working class boys, his early childhood. Um, lots of disturbing

(15:35):
stories in that one. He had a difficult beginning, and
that's not narrated by him. It's narrated by Graham Davis.
And there's Working Class Man, and that's narrated by Terry Disher.
The next book is Piranesi, and this is by Susanna Clarke.
This is a speculative fiction novel published by Bloomsbury Publishing

(15:56):
in 2020. Piranesi lives in the house. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear
and careful record of its wonders the labyrinth of halls,
the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder
up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through

(16:18):
the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays, Piranesi sees his
friend the other. At other times he brings tributes of
food to the dead. But mostly he is alone. Messages
begin to appear scratched out in chalk on the pavements.
There is someone new in the house, but who are

(16:38):
they and what do they want? Are they a friend
or do they bring destruction and madness as the other claims?
Lost texts must be found. Secrets must be uncovered. The
world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The beauty of the house is immeasurable. Its kindness infinite.

(17:00):
Let's hear a sample of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It's
narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

S6 (17:07):
When the moon rose in the third Northern Hall, I
went to the ninth vestibule entry for the first day
of the fifth month in the year, the albatross came
to the south western halls when the moon rose in
the third northern hall. I went to the ninth vestibule
to witness the joining of three tides. This is something

(17:30):
that happens only once every eight years. The ninth vestibule
is remarkable for the three great staircases it contains. Its
walls are lined with marble statues, hundreds upon hundreds of them,
tier upon tier, rising into the distant heights. I climbed

(17:53):
up the Western Wall until I reached the statue of
a woman carrying a beehive 15m above the pavement. The
woman is 2 or 3 times my own height, and
the beehive is covered with marble bees the size of
my thumb. One bee. This always gives me a slight
sensation of queasiness. Crawls over her left eye. I squeezed

(18:18):
myself into the woman's niche and waited until I heard
the tide's roaring in the lower halls, and felt the
walls vibrating with the force of what was about to happen.
First came the tide from the far eastern halls. This
tide ascended the easternmost staircase without violence. It had no

(18:39):
color to speak of, and its waters were no more
than ankle deep. It spread a gray mirror across the pavement,
the surface of which was marbled with streaks of milky foam. Home.
Next came the tide from the western holes. This tide
thundered up the westernmost staircase and hit the eastern wall

(19:00):
with a great clap, making all the statues tremble.

S2 (19:05):
And that was the symbol of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
Susanna is spelt s s a w a s s
a Clarke is c a r c a r. And
that book again another shortish one. It goes for seven hours.
This book won the 2021 Women's Prize for fiction, and

(19:29):
this is Clarke's second novel, following her debut, Jonathan Strange
and Mr. Norrell, which was published in 2004 and is
also available in the library. The reviews. Most of the
reviews are very good. Sarah Ditum of The Times gave
the novel a rave review, writing after all that time
she has produced a second novel that is close to perfect.

(19:51):
Ron Charles of The Washington Post called it infinitely clever,
and praised Piranesi's acceptance of his imprisonment for unintentionally making
the novel resonate with a planet in quarantine due to
the Covid 19 pandemic. This book also this this version
that I played a sample of, also won the Audie

(20:13):
Award audiobook of the year in 2021 and may be
worth a listen just for that. The next novel is
a darkly lyrical mystery by Chris Whitaker. It's called All
the Colors of the dark late one summer. The town
of Montclair is shattered by the abduction of local teenager

(20:34):
Joseph Patch McCauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who
is broken by her best friend's disappearance. But when she
finds him, it will break her heart. Patch lies in
a pitch black room, all alone until he feels a
hand in his. her name is Grace, and though they
cannot see each other, she takes him from the darkness

(20:55):
and paints their world with her words. In this hopeless
place they fall in love. But when he escapes, there
is no sign she ever even existed to find her again.
Patch charts an epic search across the country and to
set him free. Saint will shadow his journey on a
darker path to hunt down the man who took them.

(21:16):
Even if finding the truth means losing each other forever.
Let's hear a sample of All the Colors of the
Dark by Chris Whitaker. It's narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.

S7 (21:27):
From the flat roof of the kitchen. Patch looked out
through serried pin oaks and white pine to the loom
of Saint Francis Mountains that pressed the small town of
Montclair into its shade no matter the season. At 13,
he believed entirely that there was gold beyond the Ozark Plateau,
that there was a brighter world just waiting for him.

(21:48):
Though later that morning, when he lay dying in the woodland,
he'd take that morning still and purse it till the
colors ran, because he knew it could not have been
so beautiful, that nothing was ever so beautiful in his life.
He climbed back into his bedroom and wore a tricorn
and waistcoat, and tucked navy slacks into his socks, and

(22:08):
fanned the knees until they resembled breeches. Into his belt.
He slid a small dagger metal alloy, but the bladesmith
was skilled enough. Later that day, the cops would crawl
over the intricacies of his life and discover he was
into pirates because he had been born with only one eye,
and his mother peddled the romance of a cutlass, an
eye patch. Because often for kids like him, the flare

(22:31):
of fiction dulled a reality too severe. In his bedroom,
they would note the black flag pinned to hide a
hole in the drywall, the closet with no doors, the
fan that did not work, and the steeple tone that did.
The antique treasure chest his mother had found at a
flea market in Saint Louis. Doubloon movie props a replica

(22:52):
one shot flintlock pistol. They would bag a roll of
firecrackers and the June 1965 Playboy. Like they were evidence
of something. And then they would see the eye patches.
He looked them over carefully and selected the purple with
the silver star. His mother made them, and some of
them itched. But the purple was satin smooth. 18 in total.

(23:16):
Only one carried the skull and crossbones. He decided he
might wear that one on his wedding day, should he
ever work up the courage to speak to Misty Meyer.

S2 (23:26):
And that was all the colors of the Dark by
Chris Whitaker. Chris is C.H.. C.H. Whitaker is w a
e I t h e r. And that book goes
for 14 hours and 50 minutes. It comes under the

(23:47):
categories of Detective and mystery, Psychological fiction, and American Fiction.
And back in July 2024, The Guardian listed it as
a crime and thriller book of the month, and they say,
tackling love and friendship and trauma, this is a luminous
and heartbreaking book. A crime novel, yes, but vaster and

(24:07):
more moving than anything I expected. And the reviewer was
Alison Flood. Chris Whittaker is a British author known for
his books Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, We Begin
at the End, and The Forevers. We don't have any
other books by him in the collection. Hachette Australia called
it a gripping, sweeping new novel from the critically acclaimed

(24:31):
number one international bestseller Chris Whittaker, one of the must
read novels of the year, a sweeping coming of age tale,
an epic love story and a searing thriller all unfolding
on a vast canvas, and some of the other adjectives
used to describe this novel is, um, epic, taut, beguiling, engrossing,

(24:51):
heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure, equal parts harrowing and triumphant.
So many accolades received for the book. And just to
finish off with today, a couple of literary anniversaries of

(25:14):
books that we do have in the library collection. The
first one is The Way We Live Now, and this
is by Anthony Trollope, who was born in 1815 and
passed away in 1882. This is the 150th anniversary of
the publication of The Way We Live Now. An unscrupulous
Victorian lady exploits all available means to further the financial

(25:37):
and social aspirations of her knavish son, who plans to
marry the daughter of a wealthy swindler. That's Anthony Trollope's
The Way We Live Now. And that's narrated by Tony
Chambers from the Royal National Institute for the blind, was
added to the library collection here at Vision Australia in 2007,

(25:59):
and it comes under the categories of classic fiction and satire.
And it is also the 100th birthday of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
And that is available in the library in audio and
in Braille. Past, present and future are brought together one
day in June 1923. In getting ready to welcome her guests,

(26:22):
Clarissa Dalloway also prepares to face the next stage of
her life. Now in her 50s, she begins to consider
the changes old age will bring. In another part of London,
Septimus Smith is on the brink of madness. His day
interweaves with Clarissa's. That's 11 hours and 46 minutes long again.
It's a Royal National Institute for the blind publication entered

(26:45):
into our collection in 2007, but it doesn't say who
the narrator is. But it comes under 20th century literature,
feminist fiction, Great Britain fiction, and perceptive fiction. Happy anniversary
to both of those books. Thank you once again for

(27:07):
joining us on here today. I'm Frances Keeland, and if
you would like to join the library, or like Sheila
and many other people, if you would like to contribute
just a couple of books as reader recommendations, it's so valuable.
You can always call 1300 654 656. That's 130654656. Or you can

(27:30):
email library at. Library at. Have a lovely week and
we'll be back next week with more. Hear this.