Update your browser or Flash plugin
Listen: Author Belinda Murrell chats with Hope Breakfast s Sam Robinson about her new book The Golden Tower
Sydney-based author Belinda Murrell’s new book about a girl stuck in a tower, is inspired by Narnia, strong women, and even COVID-19 lockdown.
The Golden Tower is an exciting novel for kids – where a sarcastic cat takes young Sophie hostage, in a fantasy world where horses fly. Belinda told Hope Breakfast that creating such a world took inspiration from one of her favourite childhood book series.
“One of my inspirations was [The Chronicles of] Narnia,” Belinda said. “It was that idea of a world that was filled with magic, mystery and wonder. Talking animals and magical creatures, and that a normal every day kid like Sophie could step through this doorway or portal and go into this magical world and have all these adventures that are really dangerous, that you couldn’t actually have in the real world.”
Download 23.38 MB
Charlotte was Australia s first children s author. Under the pen name of A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , she wrote and illustrated
A Mother s Offering to Her Children in 1841.
Before writing her landmark book Charlotte s dramatic shifts in fortune included falling in love at sea, losing her husband young, being brutalised by bushrangers, and becoming a penniless single mother who took her fight to the Supreme Court.
Growing up, author and fairytale specialist, Kate Forysth, was enchanted by stories of her distant forebear, Charlotte, and the grand sandstone house in which she d once lived. Romance and mystery swirled around her great great great great grandmother s life in Regency England and colonial New South Wales.
Searching for Charlotte, written with her sister Kate Forsyth.
Charlotte was not only a bestselling author, she was an early Australian artist and a pioneer in the fight for women’s legal rights, waging a bitter court battle for the right to raise her own children. In
Searching for
Charlotte, the story of her life is woven together with our own anecdotes and experiences, untangling the mysteries of the past.
Our journey really began when we were children and our grandparents would take us on excursions to the beautiful Southern Highlands to show us the golden sandstone house, called Oldbury, that had been built by our great-great-great-great grandparents in 1828. As we bumped along the rough, dirt track, Nonnie and Papa would tell us romantic stories of our ancestors – their enthralling adventures, sorrows and triumphs.
Searching for Charlotte, written with her sister Belinda Murrell.
One thing I have always wondered is whether my lifelong compulsion to write was encoded in my DNA. People often ask me, ‘when did you first decide you wanted to become an author?’
I always answer, ‘I was born wanting it’.
My sister Belinda Murrell is an author too. So is my brother. The three of us have published more than 90 books between us.
We are not the only writers in our family. There are poets, novelists, journalists and biographers going back generations. My sister and I have just spent the past 2 years researching and writing
What s on in Summer What s on in Summer 17 December 2020
Whether you are a culture lover looking to visit an exhibition or a researcher uncovering new knowledge in our 10-million-items-and-counting collection, whether you need a gift from the Bookshop or a coffee at Bookplate, or whether you are tuning in to the National Library online, we’ve got something for you to explore this summer.
Onsite
We look forward to welcoming you to your National Library over the summer.
The Library is open from 9am to 5pm daily (except Christmas Day). Between Thursday 24 December 2020 and Sunday 3 January 2021, the Library will be operating on summer opening hours, so be sure to check these when planning your visit.