The Blackbird has Flown!

Well, after an exceptionally long writing period, I'm pleased to finally announce the publication of The Lost Blackbird.

During the latter half of the 20th century, many British parents who were struggling financially, were offered the chance of a better life for their children by sending them to populate the colonies. Some parents, however, were not even asked permission, their children being shipped across the world without their consent or even knowledge.

Supposedly going to a better life, these children –– some as young as three-years-old –– suffered many forms of terrible abuse.

The Lost Blackbird is a work of fiction but it reflects the harsh reality of child migration. In my fictional characters, I hope to have captured –– apart from their sadness, losses and grief –– some joy and hope for the future. 

The Lost Blackbird is on the new-release PROMO price of only £1.99/$2.99 for a limited time only.

If you do read The Lost Blackbird, I’d really like to hear what you thought of it; I love hearing from readers!

Get your copy of The Lost Blackbird E-book HERE.

Or, read The Lost Blackbird for free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

The Paperback version will be available shortly. 

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The Lost Blackbird

Well after another "challenging" year health-wise, I'm so excited to finally have a new novel, The Lost Blackbird, coming soon.

 London 1962. A strict and loveless English children’s home, or the promise of Australian sunshine, sandy beaches and eating fruit straight from the tree. Which would you choose?

Ten-year-old Lucy Rivers and her five-year-old sister Charly are thrilled when a child migrant scheme offers them the chance to escape their miserable past. 

But on arrival in Sydney, the girls discover their fantasy future is more nightmare than dream.

Lucy’s lot is near-slavery at Seabreeze Farm where living conditions are inhuman, the flies and heat unbearable and the owner a sadistic bully. What must she do to survive?

Meanwhile Charly, adopted by the nurturing and privileged Ashwood family, gradually senses that her new parents are hiding something. When the truth emerges, the whole family crumbles. Can Charly recover from this bittersweet deception? 

Will the sisters, stranded miles apart in a strange country, ever find each other again?

A poignant testament to child migrants who suffered unforgivable evil, The Lost Blackbird explores the power of family bonds and our desire to know who we are.

The Lost Blackbird will be available at your favourite retail store in a few weeks!

Sign up  for new book releases and receive a FREE copy of Friends & Other Strangers, my award-winning collection of Australian short stories.

If you enjoy my books, follow me on BOOKBUB

http://www.lizaperrat.com/

Five Great Books Set in Australia

Very chuffed to see my novel, The Swooping Magpie on this list of Five Great Books Set in Australia, alongside some fabulous Aussie authors!

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The thunderclap of sexual revolution collides with the black cloud of illegitimacy. 

Sixteen-year-old Lindsay Townsend is pretty and popular at school. At home, it’s a different story. Dad belts her and Mum’s either busy or battling a migraine. So when sexy school-teacher Jon Halliwell finds her irresistible, Lindsay believes life is about to change.

She’s not wrong.

Lindsay and Jon pursue their affair in secret, because if the school finds out, Jon will lose his job. If Lindsay’s dad finds out, there will be hell to pay. But when a dramatic accident turns her life upside down, Lindsay is separated from the man she loves.

Events spiral beyond her control, emotions conflicting with doubt, loneliness and fear, and Lindsay becomes enmeshed in a shocking true-life Australian scandal. The schoolyard beauty will discover the dangerous games of the adult world. Games that destroy lives.

Lindsay is forced into the toughest choice of her young life. The resulting trauma will forever burden her heart.

Reflecting the social changes of 1970s Australia, The Swooping Magpie is a chilling psychological tale of love, loss and grief, and, through collective memory, finding we are not alone.

Grab a copy HERE for only 2.99!

The Swooping Magpie

Many thanks to CP Lesley and the New Books network for interviewing me on my #Aussie #1970s family drama novel The Swooping Magpie.


Listen to the interview HERE.


Available HERE at your favourite retailer for only $2.99!

Ten Pound Poms

Julie, one of the characters in my Aussie medical drama novel, The Swooping Magpie, is referred to as a 'Ten Pound Pom'. While this expression was very familiar to Aussies growing up in the 60s and 70s, others might wonder what it means.

"Ten Pound Pom" is a colloquial term used to describe British people migrating to Australia after WWII. Citizens wishing to migrate could do so by paying only £10 for their ticket. The government, who had set up this Assisted Passage Migration Scheme in 1954, paid the rest. Children could travel for free.

The Assisted Passage Migration Scheme was intended to substantially increase the population of Australia and to supply workers for the country's booming industries. The Government promised employment prospects, housing and a generally better lifestyle.

However, on arrival, migrants were placed in rudimentary hostel accommodation and often, as happened to Julie's father, the expected job was not readily available.

A newly-arrived family

The scheme attracted over amillion migrants from 1945 -1972, representing the last substantial scheme for preferential migration from the British Isles to Australia.

Assisted migrants were generally obliged to remain in Australia for two years after arrival, or refund the cost of their assisted passage.


If you'd like to know more about Julie, and the other characters in The Swooping Magpie, you can buy the novel for only 99c/p New Release price at your favourite retailer HERE

Stressful day? What you need is a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down

'A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down' was an expression that became a common Australian saying post WWII when aspirin became readily available.

It came to be used in the pejorative and abbreviated form "go and take a Bex" to indicate that someone should take a more relaxed attitude to a certain subject, or to soothe a frazzled housewife.




As was Valium in the UK, Bex in Australia was referred to as "mother's little helper". Sadly though, Bex only helped in the short-term, while killing in the long-term.


In the 1960s, women routinely used Bex to get through the day. However, once it was recognised that these substances were addictive and large doses of phenacetin were resulting in kidney disease, analgesics came under government regulation in the 1970s.

An ad I recall so vividly from my childhood!

Like so many other housewives, one of my characters in The Swooping Magpie (the heroine's mum) a 1970s Aussie psychological suspense novel, is addicted to Bex. During my research I came across this Bex TV ad, that I remember so well. Watch it here.



If you'd like to learn more about Lindsay's mother and the other characters, you can buy The Swooping Magpie for only 99c/p New Release price HERE.

1970s Australian medical drama

#Aussie #short stories collection: Friends & Other Strangers

Friends & Other Strangers, the award-winning collection of Australian short stories has been republished with a beautiful new cover.  

Special PROMO price of only 99c/p at your favourite retailer:

Amazon

Other e-retailers

 
What readers are saying about Friends & Other Strangers:

"… each story is a jewel filled with interesting and provocative characters… "

"… in stories like Santa Never Came, and Daughter of Atlas, Perrat explores the layers and complexities of an immigrant nation, of different cultures coming together under a baking sun and learning to adapt to one another … not the Australia of Crocodile Dundee, but a much more nuanced country, one the rest of the world deserves to know better … "

"… lovely collection of insights into Australia, but be warned, you'll be Googling flights when you put it down. The author captures the atmosphere of a young, vast country, with unpredictable weather and huge space"

"These stories are of the Australia that you won't find in tour guides - a still young nation still trying to blend together from the mixed ingredients of immigrants from all over the world… "