A Story Dreamt Long Ago by Phyllis McDuff
Fabulous! Masterful writing. Brilliant linking of themes and subplots with all roads leading to 'Rome' - in this case, answering the question "Who is Bettina?" So clever, I could readily visualise each chapter as an episode in a TV mini series. This is Australian non-fiction at its best.
The characters were well drawn and the author did not spare her mother, Bettina, quoting her as saying "I was always impossible." By the end of the book I felt some understanding of why she was like this, therefore also gained some sympathy for her. She was certainly loved by her husband and kids, which softened the edges of the portrait of her. Anyway, all horsey people are eccentric, but Bettina was also very, very interesting!
As the daughter in the story, Phyllis must have found it difficult to keep a balance in the portrayal of herself, but I felt she managed well. She did so by contrasting her own love for order as opposed to Bettina's seemingly 'mismanaged' life. Phyllis enjoyed boarding school and being trained at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna because of the routine and discipline involved. This gave her much needed parameters and a sense of security.
Each chapter has its own sparkle and theme, but all were essential in building into the book's main rationale of seeking to uncover the mystery of Bettina, the Austrian illegal immigrant who sought refuge in Australia at the end of WWII. The Australian/Europe crossovers were well handled, not incongruous. The denoument was clever as the reader gradually discovers what Bettina was up to and Phyllis' assumption of that role before the end of the book. I suspected the Jewish connection, due to the Mendl name, so I was not greatly surprised by this disclosure. The case of the missing brother is never resolved - whether he was bad or not.
What did I learn? That the Vienna 'season' for debutantes was still flourishing by the time Phyllis was in her late teens (the early 1960s) came as a surprise. Also, with reference to the Picasso sketches, I had no idea that even the artist's experimental ideas leading up to a work of art have been collected and documented. Bettina buys Phillis a string of black pearls which were 18 feet long. Unbelievable! I was already familiar with the work of Wisenthall, but not how difficult it was for the original owners to actually get property back which was filched by the Nazis.
I would unreservedly reccommend this book. I enjoyed it so much, I would readily re-read it.
The characters were well drawn and the author did not spare her mother, Bettina, quoting her as saying "I was always impossible." By the end of the book I felt some understanding of why she was like this, therefore also gained some sympathy for her. She was certainly loved by her husband and kids, which softened the edges of the portrait of her. Anyway, all horsey people are eccentric, but Bettina was also very, very interesting!
As the daughter in the story, Phyllis must have found it difficult to keep a balance in the portrayal of herself, but I felt she managed well. She did so by contrasting her own love for order as opposed to Bettina's seemingly 'mismanaged' life. Phyllis enjoyed boarding school and being trained at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna because of the routine and discipline involved. This gave her much needed parameters and a sense of security.
Each chapter has its own sparkle and theme, but all were essential in building into the book's main rationale of seeking to uncover the mystery of Bettina, the Austrian illegal immigrant who sought refuge in Australia at the end of WWII. The Australian/Europe crossovers were well handled, not incongruous. The denoument was clever as the reader gradually discovers what Bettina was up to and Phyllis' assumption of that role before the end of the book. I suspected the Jewish connection, due to the Mendl name, so I was not greatly surprised by this disclosure. The case of the missing brother is never resolved - whether he was bad or not.
What did I learn? That the Vienna 'season' for debutantes was still flourishing by the time Phyllis was in her late teens (the early 1960s) came as a surprise. Also, with reference to the Picasso sketches, I had no idea that even the artist's experimental ideas leading up to a work of art have been collected and documented. Bettina buys Phillis a string of black pearls which were 18 feet long. Unbelievable! I was already familiar with the work of Wisenthall, but not how difficult it was for the original owners to actually get property back which was filched by the Nazis.
I would unreservedly reccommend this book. I enjoyed it so much, I would readily re-read it.
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