Telltale: reading writing remembering
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 3, 2022
Author Carmel Bird
Distributor: Transit Lounge
ISBN: 978-1-925760-92-7
Publisher: Transit Lounge
Release Date: July 2022
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Carmel Bird was like everyone else when the quarantine restrictions of COVID-19 saw her based firmly at home for an unknown length of time. She had her library of many, many books for company and like everyone else began to wonder what to do with the days and days, which turned into weeks and weeks, of restricted lifestyle.
She, as all good authors would, turned to her bookshelves, taking a revisit through the shelves of books collected over many years; so many of them from her childhood in Tasmania and others selected, collected and given over her many years of life.
Always vowing she would never write a Memoir, she found herself, almost unconsciously doing this, as the books she re-discovered led to a raft of stories she considered as far too good a copy to keep to herself – she would share them in the form of a chat with her readers: never a memoir.
Brer Rabbit, a well-known character from many an elders youthful story books, begins the journey down memory lane, as she looks at the many various facets of the stories captured under the title of Stories From Uncle Remus, encapsulated in a bound war time edition and gifted to her by an Aunt in 1946. As an adult looking down the pages of time, the messages within the stories children loved to read, or were somewhat terrified of, were really quite extraordinary.
And so with Uncle Remus as the catalyst, Carmel Bird begins her fascinating journey down through the years, which for many older readers will also be a similar journey. Viewing the journey as a ‘bridge’ back through time, she tells the story of her love of visiting the tumultuous Tamar River as a small child, standing on the wrought iron Kings Bridge at Cataract Gorge and pondering the imponderable.
Peacocks feature throughout as well, as this was a major component of the visit to Cataract Gorge; would she see one or not, and if so would he be ready to display is beautiful plumage. So many of the events and stories make up the days of yesteryear, when life seemed to be so much less complex than the days of now.
The different chapters, some only a mere page, others lengthy, full of memories, are captivating as is her set of ‘rules’, established so she would not digress on her adventure back through time, many of which came to a sad demise as the days, then weeks passed and so many rediscovered items of intrigue needed further research.
Carmel Bird has, in her beautiful construction of words, recreated a world so many knew with great familiarity as she shares her story, just a little, with all who wander into her orbit via the bookshop shelves.
Telltale. Reading, Writing, Remembering is a rich, intriguing and most enjoyable series of stories in a narration best ‘supped’ slowly, to enjoy to the fullest extent.