Rosemary Westwell

Stories for Harry Rosemary Westwell

This is a series of stories from the 'olden days' for my grandson Harry. It tells Harry what it was like to be me from the late forties in Tasmania until the late eighties in England. The book is listed as requiring 'Parental Guidance' for I have pulled no punches and you will be transported back in time to a world where a young, determined Aussie girl suffers the trials and tribulations that most of us endure when growing up in a strange and varied world full of interesting people and places. You will follow the path of this little Australian girl who demanded to learn the piano at the age of six and went on to make music teaching her career in England. Eating witchetty grubs, being attacked by jack jumpers, developing a fascination for the history of the Tasmanian Aborigines and a disastrous piano performance were experiences that she left behind as she boarded a rickety boat to seek her fortune on the other side of the world. Coming to terms with the quaint idiosyncrasies of the English and their language produced hilarious episodes in the classroom as she created a new life for herself in her newly adopted country. She married an Englishman and family life after the birth of two daughters was momentarily idyllic until Harry's Granddad John developed dementia. Harry learns about what his Granddad John was like before he became ill and the book comes to a close when we reach stories of his mum, the youngest daughter of Harry's Granddad John and Nanna Roe (the author).