{"title":"Carmel Bird","description":"\u003cp\u003eCarmel Bird is a celebrated Australian author known for her ability to weave intricate tales that captivate and challenge readers. Her diverse body of work spans various genres, reflecting her keen insight into the human condition and society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCrimson Velvet Heart\u003c\/em\u003e is an engrossing historical fiction piece that transports readers into rich, evocative past landscapes. In \u003cem\u003eField of Poppies\u003c\/em\u003e, Bird crafts a compelling narrative within the realms of general fiction, inviting readers on an explorative journey through unexpected societal intricacies and relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnother gem in her collection, \u003cem\u003eLove Letter to Lola\u003c\/em\u003e, also under general fiction, offers a deeply engaging and emotive storyline that resonates with themes of love and self-discovery. Further showcasing her versatility, \u003cem\u003eTelltale\u003c\/em\u003e provides a touching glimpse into Bird's own life, inviting readers to experience her personal history and passions through a candid and heartfelt biography and memoir.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBird's astute observations on contemporary issues are evident in \u003cem\u003eThe Stolen Children\u003c\/em\u003e, a work that falls within politics and current affairs. This book offers a ground-breaking reflection on difficult societal issues, prompting readers to engage in critical thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach book in Carmel Bird's collection is a testament to her storytelling prowess, offering readers an engaging blend of narrative depth and insight into diverse topics. Explore her works to enjoy a unique literary experience that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"love-letter-to-lola-by-carmel-bird-9781925052961","title":"Love Letter to Lola","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou clamber up, heading for the exit, the circle of faint light, as the radiance of the pre-dawn leads you on toward freedom. I follow. You spread your darling wings. You enter the net that awaits you.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBold, tender, and often fantastical, \u003ci\u003eLove Letter to Lola\u003c\/i\u003e enters the very pain of loss and grief while preserving a wise, sly, humorous, and ironic point of view. The thylacine, the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the blue macaw are all candidates to return from extinction, and here each is given its own moving narrative. The meaning of the British monarchy is challenged by a green spider; a unicorn and the rainbow serpent contemplate the end of the world; an angel gives his perspective on human life and love with a thoughtful and exquisite mischief. The author's own 'Reflection' on the inspiration and the construction of the stories is a swift and penetrating conversation on how writing happens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePlaying with darkness but in no way mucking around, this teeming collection is deeply tuned to the possibilities of a future 'where all life on the planet is treasured and nurtured by humans'. - Gregory Day\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA beguiling blend of historical facts - with an eye for the unexpected and bizarre - and a dazzling imagination. A vividly realised world of fantasy, romance, and horror, in which cockroaches, rats, and dodos voice the brutal realities of species extinction and the destructive effects of colonialism. There's profound emotion and disarming wit, with faint echoes of optimism about the future of the planet under siege. Vintage Carmel Bird: immersive, surprising, and irresistible. - Susan Midalia\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarmel Bird is an extraordinary writer, and these stories are playful, violent, wild. In \u003ci\u003eLove Letter to Lola\u003c\/i\u003e, she asks us to inhabit the bodies and minds of birds and insects, mammals and angels as they - as we all - stand tremulous on the point of extinction. Reading them made me feel braver. - Sophie Cunningham\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThese stories are in love with life and its surprising possibilities. They are clever, heartfelt, joyous, and wise. They find, as Hopkins said, the 'dearest freshness deep down things.' Time spent with Carmel Bird is simply uplifting. - Michael McGirr\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOnce again Carmel Bird weaves her magic, constantly surprising the reader with her inventiveness and her wisdom. Reading her stories is like opening up a compendium in which one finds unexpected treasures. Hers is a unique voice, attuned to the disquiets of our age and still able to inspire hope and reflection. - Dennis Altman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eLove Letter to Lola\u003c\/i\u003e, Carmel Bird can rightfully take her place as one of the finest short story writers in Australian literary history. On the back of an already stunning body of work, this collection - rich, unnerving, playful, terrifying, and heartbreakingly moving - pushes the limits of the genre to such a satisfying and effortless degree that you feel you are reading something entirely fresh and new. Bird's stories teem with life, they eddy and dance, and flow back and forth through each other, like memories and history and life. They may be told from the perspective of a cockroach, or a mournful brother, or an angel, and each and every one of these stories is thrillingly convincing. As a writer, Bird has been and continues to be impossible to categorise. Her ideas and obsessions and interests are multitude, but all without exception are driven by her utterly unique, pyrotechnic energy. Her stories roar and soar, they set your teeth on edge and trigger tears, they make you howl with laughter even as you peer into the abyss of existence. This is the thing about masters of their craft - they reignite in you the unquantifiable joy of reading. And if they're good enough, they also make you excited about the complex art of writing. How on earth, you ask, did she just do that? Carmel Bird is one such master. - Matthew Condon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46712291492076,"sku":"9781925052961","price":50.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/10854943482873.jpg?v=1754290879"},{"product_id":"telltale-by-carmel-bird-9781925760927","title":"Telltale","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e'I was confined, locked into my library, tracing my heartbeats from way, way back.'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eTelltale\u003c\/i\u003e, Carmel Bird seizes on an enforced isolation to re-read a rich dispensary of books from her past. A rule she sets herself is that she can consult only the books in her house, even if some, such as the much-loved Thornton Wilder's \u003ci\u003eThe Bridge of San Luis Rey\u003c\/i\u003e, appear to be stubbornly elusive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHer library is comprehensive, and each book chosen - or that cannot be refused - enables an opening, a connection to people, time, place, myth, image, and the experience of a writing life. From her father's bomb shelter to her mother's raspberry jam, from a lost Georgian public library with 'narrow little streets of books' to the memory of crossing by bridge the turbulent waters of the Tamar River, to a revelatory picnic at Tasmania's Cataract Gorge in 1945, this is the most intimate of memoirs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is one that never shies from the horrors of world history, the treatment of First Nations People, or the literary misrepresentations of the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal, lyrical, and hugely enjoyable, \u003ci\u003eTelltale\u003c\/i\u003e, with its finely wrought insight and artful storytelling, is destined to delight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A book about books that dreams you through a library of life.'\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eBruce Pascoe\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'I have so loved this book! It walks us through the encounters of a lifetime, always with a delightful eye for strange connections and elusive memories. It is testimony to a life of great intellectual generosity and human compassion. It is irresistible.'\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eMichael McGirr\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46845909139692,"sku":"9781925760927","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/17934603482873.jpg?v=1758900282"},{"product_id":"the-stolen-children-by-carmel-bird-9780091836894","title":"The Stolen Children","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing the unprecedented demand for the Report on the stolen children, which was published by The Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (HEROC) and retailed at $60.00, here are extracts from the Report that mostly comprise the actual stories told by the stolen generations of their experiences. These stories are deeply moving and compelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHEROC will not be printing any more copies of the Report, and they have given Carmel Bird the right to use the stories in this book so that they become more accessible to the wider population. Carmel has also written linking text and included a range of comments from politicians, social commentators, actors, artists, and other prominent people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt a time when national attention is sharply focused on the tragedy of the stolen generations, and when various institutions, political leaders, and groups are officially apologising for the policies which saw so many young children taken from their families, this book is extremely timely and quite unique in its content.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Stolen Children\u003c\/em\u003e offers an insightful and poignant collection that contributes significantly to the discourse on this critical historical issue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46850732589292,"sku":"9780091836894","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/18715143482220.jpg?v=1759097621"},{"product_id":"field-of-poppies-by-carmel-bird-9781925760392","title":"Field of Poppies","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cem\u003eLonglisted for the 2020 Davitt Awards: Adult Crime\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKeen to escape the pressures of city life, Marsali Swift and her husband William are drawn to Listowel, a glorious historic mansion in the seemingly tranquil small town of Muckleton. There is time to read, garden, decorate, play chess and befriend the locals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet one night Listowel is robbed, and soon after a neighbour is murdered. The violent history of the couple's adopted Goldfields town is revealed, and plans for a new goldmine emerge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSubtle and sinister details unnerve: the novels that are studied at book club echo disappearances and colonial transgressions, a treasured painting of Monet's \u003cem\u003eField of Poppies\u003c\/em\u003e recalls loves and dreams but also times of war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAtmospheric and beguiling, this is a novel that seduces the reader with mysteries and beauties but also speaks of something much larger. The planet is in trouble, but is the human race up to the challenge? Are Marsali and William walking blindfold into a hostile world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It celebrates the human catastrophe with grace and charm. It takes years of experience for a writer to be able to pull off this kind of sorcery.' — Michael McGirr\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cem\u003eCarmel Bird\u003c\/em\u003e has a gift for distilling the essence of her characters and locations and bringing them together in wonderfully unexpected ways. Her distinctive voice and lightness of touch shine in this penetrating and evocative novel.' — Michael Sala\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46998085501164,"sku":"9781925760392","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/17929253482873.jpg?v=1763208123"},{"product_id":"crimson-velvet-heart-by-carmel-bird-9781923023512","title":"Crimson Velvet Heart","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThere was a kind of grotesquerie to the dazzle and magnificence, a vicious underlay of thorns beneath the bed of roses, and a vast shadow floating, looming overhead. The kingdom was forever at war, and there was an eerie strangeness in the shining trio of the king, his wife, and the little princess from Savoy.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is 1696. Louis XIV, absolute monarch in his sunset years, with his secret wife by his side, believes his grandson will succeed him and will continue the dynasty. As part of the spoils of war, he brings from Savoy, a child, a youthful bride for that grandson. In this bride the king gets more than he could ever have bargained for. She is enchanting, and he is bewitched. Has the king fallen madly in love with this Princess Marie-Adelade of Savoy? What exactly is the bond between these two?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt the court of Versailles, there is lavish magnificence including the vast gardens and the Hall of Mirrors. But it is also where dark, enchanting fairytales come to prominence. News of war is never far away. And tantalising beauty is undercut by threat. The tale is narrated in part by Sister Clare, a childhood friend of Marie-Adelade, who after losing the young man she loves to war and then the Princess to disease, becomes a nun. For Clare, it is her devoted mission to tell the story of Marie-Adelade, mother of the child who will become Louis XV.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCrimson Velvet Heart\u003c\/i\u003e is a visionary novel on Adelade's life both strange and enthralling where Carmel Bird's exquisite language and rich understanding of history and human nature capture both the spirit and the mystery of love and loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis astounding novel speaks for devotion and wisdom even as it eviscerates the monstrous glory of 17th century France. Grounded in research, Carmel Bird's historical imagination is glitteringly bright.\u003c\/b\u003e — Gregory Day\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47076499325164,"sku":"9781923023512","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/b5d9a7fe119d4e5b79268922681684b7.jpg?v=1765221112"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/carmel-bird.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}