by Kim Kelly
BOOK’D OUT AUSTRALIA DAY BLOG HOP
(entries are now closed)
I love a sunburnt country – mine, in fact. Telling and sharing tales about Australia is what I do, whether I’m writing a new novel, or editing someone else’s, or mentoring another author along the road of discovering what it is they want to say – most often, about Australia.
All of my own stories delve into some aspect of Australian history, to see what the past might show us about who we are today, and my new novella, Wild Chicory, is no exception. Inspired by stories my grandmother told me when I was small, it’s the tale of an Irish family, the Kennedys, and the trip they make to immigrate to Sydney from Tralee in the early 1900s.
Like the story of Australia itself, Wild Chicory is not always a happy, sunshiny tale. There are clouds, there are obstacles of poverty and bigotry for the Kennedy family to overcome, but, as in all my stories, love breaks through in the end. Of course it does! And in the case of Wild Chicory, it’s love of stories that triumphs over all.
I’d love to share a signed copy of Wild Chicory with one lucky winner on the Book’d Out Australia Day Giveaway Blog Hop.
For a chance to win, simply comment on this here little blog of mine – and while you’re there, you can tell me what you love most about Australia, if you like!
Entries close midnight 27 January, Australian Eastern Standard Time, and the winner will be chosen at random.
For a chance to win all manner of other wonderful tales, visit the Book’d Out Australia Day Giveaway Blog Hop page here, and hop away to your heart’s content – there are so many fabulous books and bloggers to discover over there. Thank you once again, Shellyrae at Book’d Out, for hosting this marvellous event.
Good luck and happy blog-hopping!
While we’re celebrating, though, let’s not forget that Australia Day is not a joyful day for everyone. I acknowledge the pain of First Nations Australians and pledge to do what I can to make a brighter future by telling the truth about injustices, past and present, and by listening to those who are hurt.
Love will break through in the end – it has to.
Blue sky and sunshine to all x
AND THE WINNER IS: Janine!
Thanks for the chance with this giveaway Kim! What I love most about Australia is our diversity – in the people, the landscapes, the weather and the animals. There is nowhere else in the world like it! 🙂
Beautiful! Thanks Sue. I’m with you there 🙂
Thank you for offering a giveaway Kim, I’ve not read any of your books but love discovering a new author so fingers crossed! The thing I love about Australia is its people, genuine and always able to “help out a mate” if the need arises.
Thanks for visiting, Janine, and thanks for your thoughts 🙂 I hope you discover many new authors on the hop!
And Janine, guess what! You are the winner! Please send me your address details by email – kim.swivel@bigpond.com – or by private message on Facebook or Twitter, so that I can send you that signed copy of Wild Chicory. Congratulations, and thanks for playing 🙂
Hi Kim. Love your stories and can’t wait to read ‘Wild Chicory’, thank you for the opportunity. I cannot think of anywhere in the world I would want to call home than Australia. It has the best climate, beaches, people and the most breathtaking scenery.There are so many stories to be told and our Australian authors are doing a wonderful job bringing those stories to life.
Thanks Dee! I’m thrilled you’ve been enjoying my tales. Cheers to sharing many more – and discovering many more fab Aussie authors 🙂
‘Wild Chicory’ sounds fantastic. Thank you so much for the opportunity to enter and win a copy. I travelled Europe for a few months a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it, there was just something about coming home and being back in Aus that I didn’t realise I had missed. The experience taught me how lucky we are in every regard. Aust. seriously is an amazing place, with so much diversity and opportunity and I’m happy to call it home 🙂
What a gorgeous comment, Jess. Thanks for dropping in. You’ve reminded me of my Dad’s old story of coming back to Australia by sea in the 1950s, after a few years working in the UK and travelling, and when they came into radio range of the Aussie coast, the first thing he heard was a race-call – a sound that told him he was truly home! He was never a betting man, but he nearly cried from joy 🙂
A great giveaway thank you. I am a born & bred Aussie. I love it all.
Good on you, Mary! Thank you for dropping by. I hope you discover lots of beautiful Australian writing to love, here on the hop 🙂
Wild Chicory looks great. I have never been to Oz, but am impressed by the friendliness of all the Australians I have met.
Thanks for dropping by, Penny. I hope you find lots of lovely Australian stories to bring you here – virtually, and maybe one day for real. Happy hopping! 🙂
I love that Australia is so many different things at once, beaches, bush, rainforest, mountains and busy cities, and you could visit all those in one day quite easily!
True! Thanks for dropping by. I hope you find some wonderful Australian tales that give you all that, too 🙂
Your new book sounds really interesting – looking forward to reading it. I love that in australia we can enjoy so many different cultures in one place
Thanks, geckogirl. I love our many-peopled diversity, too. How great is our food as a result?! I hope you enjoy Wild Chicory 🙂
I love our lifestyle in Australia, so very laid back, relaxed and about all enjoying the beauty of the great outdoors 🙂 Thank you for the giveaway and congrats on the release of Wild Chicory 🙂
Thanks, Amanda – and thanks for visiting my blog, too. I hope the hop brings you a relaxing and beautiful read 🙂
I love the landscapes and Christmas in summer 🙂
Me too, Maida. Christmas time at my place, the paddock grass is tall and dry, turning the hills shimmering gold. Love it! Enjoy the blog hop 🙂
Thanks for the opportunity to win Wild Chicory – it sounds great! What do I love about Australia? NOT the heat, but love mangoes, winter in Brisbane, and the beach (although I rarely get there!).
Mangoes…yum. Out summer fruit must be the best in the world. Thanks for dropping by. I hope you find all sorts of sweet things on the hop 🙂
Thank you for hosting a giveaway! The book looks fantastic. What I love about Australia is its diversity, though it saddens me that this is a value that seems to be increasingly under attack as we become more afraid of difference.
I am very much with you there, Catherine. We need to bring difference back into fashion and be proud of our many colours. Thanks for dropping by – and happy hopping 🙂
Thank you Kim for this opportunity to win a copy of Wild Chicory, which I am so looking forward to reading soon as a part of my February reading challenge.
I love everything about this wonderful sunburnt country of ours, I love her people, her personality, her generous and gregarious nature, her love of freedom and her unpredictability.
I love her history and the way she grew out of such humble beginnings into the proud yet modest teenager that she is.
I love her beauty, her gorgeous colours and her wild natural scents, her flora and her fauna.
She makes me proud to be Australian.
That’s gorgeous, Julie. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I hope you enjoy Wild Chicory – and this hop! 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway, Kim. What I like most about Australia is the space, the people, the ingenuity, the never-say-die approach to problems, and the friends I’ve made there. I don’t much like your cricket or rugby teams, though, although I do like your tennis players. (Happy retirement, Lleyton)
Hahaha! Thanks for dropping by, Jemima. I hope you discover some ingenious Aussie authors on the hop 🙂
Hi Kim,
I love our beautiful beaches, our wide open spaces, the smell of clean sheets straight off the line. Mostly I enjoy the people, happy smiling chatty people.
Have a great Australia Day.
Oh yes, Annie! That smell of sun-dried sheets – unbeatable. Cheers to a wonderful Australia Day for you, too 🙂
I love reading stories set in Australia. I love how words can describe an outback sunset streaked orange and red, or tell the tale of a suspenseful rural romance. My absolute favourite thing about Australia is the way we all band together as one in the face of tragedy. We set aside differences and work as a team, leaving no man behind. It’s special and I’m pleased to be part of such a wonderful country.
What a beautiful bunch of thoughts, Sarah Mary. Thanks for sharing them here. I hope you find some more Australian treasure on the hop 🙂
Wild Chicory looks like a great read that I know I will enjoy reading. Thanks for your participation in this hop. I can’t say what I like about Australia, because I have never visited there. I have always heard many fantastic things about it.
Judy Cox
Hello there, Judy from afar. I hope that this blog hop shows you all manner of Australian loveliness – and I hope you enjoy reading Wild Chicory, too 🙂
Hi Kim! I would love to read your new book Wild Chicory. I’ve enjoyed all your past novels (I know this one is a little dainty but that’s probably part of her charm! 😉
What do I love most about Australia? I love the growl of traffic on Oxford Street and the rainbows of salt spray at Bronte Beach. I love the sting of eucalyptus on a warm summer’s morning and the passage of time marked by the migration of humpback whales near Sugarloaf Lighthouse on the North Coast of NSW. Most of all I love the people I share this country with; funny, creative, hardworking storytellers who spend their hours bringing our history to life.
Hi Lauren. Well, there’s some gorgeous writing. Thank you so much for stopping by to grace us with that. I hope 2016 is a fabulous writing year for you. And I hope you enjoy Wild Chicory, too. She might be the smallest, but she is the biggest in heart – you’ll see what I mean 😉
Awww yeah I was just reading about your book the other day..definitely love the sound of it…favourite part of Australia is definitely the sunsets anywhere in Australia are magical.. 🙂
Thanks, Nat. I hope you enjoy my little Wild Chicory. It’s got a cracking sunset in it, too, come to think of it. Cheers to the beauty of our wide, bright skies 🙂
Your story sounds quite similar to my family’s. They came from Limerick in the late 1800s and set up farms along the Murray.
After living in England for 10 years, what I love about Australia is the positive attitude most people have. It’s very different to Europe, which is quite depressed at the moment.
Hi Nicole, thanks for dropping by. The story of Irish immigration is huge, isn’t it? So many of us descended from it. I’ll bet the contrast with Europe right now is stark. Hooray for the sunshine and warmth of home 🙂
I´ve never been to Australia, but have a big love for animals. So, well I would say that the best part of Australia for me would be the animals.
If I just could see them in real life to! 😉
I hope one day you will, Elin! Where I live, we have grey kangaroos and echidnas and huge numbers of birds – pink galahs and white cockatoos and rainbow-coloured rosellas. We’re very blessed with animal friends. Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Hi Kim. I love your books, your post here shows the depth, the sensitivity and insight you have for this great land. I loved your description about Australians in The Blue Mile (or was it This Red Earth?), that we live in a land that doesn’t want us – clinging to the margins of a hostile land. (In my words). If that doesn’t sum up who we are as Aussie battlers, then I’ll eat my hat! Anyway, I’m sure your darling Wild Chicory will fly. Best wishes. J
Oh Jay, what a beautiful message! Thank you. Yes, it was This Red Earth, and it’s a battle that’s worth it, hey? Never more so than our struggles to understand this amazing land. Thanks so much for popping in 🙂
Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of Wild Chicory. I have just finished reading Paper Daisies, which i enjoyed very much. I am now looking forward to reading more of your books. We are also blessed with animal friends, kangaroos that come in to feed close to the house, echidnas, shingle back and blue tongue lizards.
Hi Odettte. I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed Paper Daisies. Come to think of it, a shingle back makes an appearance in This Red Earth. We’re so lucky, aren’t we? Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Hi Kim, I’m a recent immigrant to Australia and what I love most about the country is how safe it is, as well as the blue skies. When the sky is blue and Sydney harbour blue and dazzling, all is right with the world.
Hi Laura. Sydney Harbour sure is a jewel, isn’t she? Magical. I hope your new life in Australia is beautiful. Thanks for dropping by 🙂
the setting
Is this international?
Is the giveaway international? Yes, mine is.
Thank you for taking part in the blog hop. Like you, I also love our country. Whenever I go overseas, as much as I may love the countries I visit, there’s always a sense of relief when I land back in Australia. I love our foods, from the meat pie, to vegemite, and fish & chips on the beach, to the animals, the bush, and the people. My only wish is that i can get to see all of this great country of ours by the time I’m old and grey. I look forward to reading your books (Paper Daisies is on my TBR and will make up part of a challenge I’m participating in). 🙂
Hi Kira, lovely to hear from you. I’m with you on that wish – our country is sometimes just too huge! Especially when friends and family are in places far away. I hope you enjoy Paper Daisies 🙂
Thanks so much for the giveaway. I have to say that the stunning beaches and beach culture in Australia is one of my favourite things about living here. I may be a city girl at heart, but this is the one place where the beach calls to me. Happy Australia Day (from the beach)!
Hi Stephanie, thanks for calling in – and cheers from the Central West hills. The land is like the sea here, rolling away in great waves to the horizon in every direction. We’re all so lucky, wherever we live – beauty is never far away. Wishing you a fab writing and reading year 🙂
Hi Kim, three of your books are sitting on my bookshelf and every time I walk past they’re begging to be read. This year I’ve challenged myself to read all the Aussie author books I own.
Oh, what I love most about Australia is that more and more Aussie authors are popping up/coming out of the woodwork, it’s so lovely to see. The freedom to be able to travel anywhere in Australia, to be able to tow the caravan around this great big beautiful land is just magical. Meeting people from all walks of life that just love the Aussie way of life. We truly are a lucky country!
And this year on 29 March we’ll be celebrating 50 yrs living in Aussieland! I feel blessed that my parents chose this country to make our home.
What a beautiful post, Sue! Congrats on your 50 years and may you have many more a’roaming this land. I’m jealous! I hope you get to read a book or two of mine on the road – and let me know what you reckon. Cheers to discovering the many, many Australian authors out there 🙂
Wild Chicory sounds like a great book! I love the diversity and relaxed lifestyle we have in Australia.
Hi Stacey – me too! And all that delicious food that diversity brings as well. I hope you enjoy Wild Chicory, and find lots of great Australian reads this year 🙂