Book description
This special story edition takes the words from Susan Duncan's
bestselling A Life on Pittwater and offers a rare glimpse of a
remarkable part of the world. Susan Duncan came to Pittwater when she
impulsively bought a tumbledown, boxy little shack in Lovett Bay. The
move changed her life forever, as she describes in her bestselling
title, Salvation Creek. Now Susan lives in Tarangaua, the gracious house
built for Dorothea Mackellar in 1925 and is a well loved member of the
small Pittwater community. A Life on Pittwater takes the reader on a
memorable trip to this beguiling place and presents all aspects of its
distinctive way of life. There is Susan's lovely home with its gorgeous
verandah; the lush surroundings, the bush and the bays; the wildlife and
the ever-present dogs; the tinnies, the ferries and the peculiarities of
living somewhere without cars; the boatsheds and the working boats; the
bushfires; and, above all, the close community life. Welcome to
Pittwater where neighbours stop their tinnies to have a quick chat.
No-one ever dresses up. The kids take the ferry to school. Goannas
wander into kitchens and leeches attach themselves to ankles. Everyone
has time for a cup of tea and a slice of homemade fruitcake. It's a
place like nowhere else in Australia; and it's also quintessentially
Australian. Susan's text describes the life with warmth and heart. This
glorious book will make you smile as you turn the pages and lose
yourself to the magic of Pittwater. After a 25-year career spanning
radio, newspaper and magazine journalism, including editing two of
Australia's top selling women's magazines, THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY
and NEW IDEA, SUSAN DUNCAN woke up one morning and chucked in her job.
The decision followed the deaths of her husband and brother. After
struggling to begin again, she finally found her own patch of paradise
on earth only to discover it might already be too late when she was
diagnosed with cancer herself. Today Susan lives with her second
husband, Bob, on the shores of Pittwater at Tarrangaua, the beautiful
home built for poet Dorothea Mackellar in 1925. Susan's bestselling
memoir, SALVATION CREEK, won the 2007 Nielsen BookData Booksellers
Choice Award and was shortlisted for the prestigious Dobbie Award, part
of the Nita B Kibble awards for women writers. She has now turned her
hand to fiction, with her first novel THE BRINY CAFE, set in a fictional
Pittwater.
