In the Quiet of my Aunt's House and Bad Blood (1996)
In the Quietness of My Aunt’s
House is a magical story set in the Australian bush. Louise returns home from Ireland when her beloved Aunt Sarah dies and she takes up residence in Sarah's little house in the country. Memories of her aunt's thwarted love affair begin to haunt her and Louise discovers they are very much alike. Too much alike. Tossed between
realities, Louise must make a decision.
In a village in the south of France, a woman fading into middle age has come to live with her elderly father. Almost unwillingly, she takes care of him as they tangle against the edges of reality. Then one day she meets an Englishman in a cafe, and she believes mercy has entered her life and saved her. In Bad Blood, love is not always as it seems.
In The Quietness Of My Aunt’s House and Bad Blood, were published by UQP in 1996 in one volume. The Author owns the rights to both novellas.
In a village in the south of France, a woman fading into middle age has come to live with her elderly father. Almost unwillingly, she takes care of him as they tangle against the edges of reality. Then one day she meets an Englishman in a cafe, and she believes mercy has entered her life and saved her. In Bad Blood, love is not always as it seems.
In The Quietness Of My Aunt’s House and Bad Blood, were published by UQP in 1996 in one volume. The Author owns the rights to both novellas.
The Australian Weekend Review (August 31, 1996) said:
"I can only say I was left quietly astonished and delighted by Carroll’s writing which has some of the delicacy and power of William Trevor’s. The prose is extraordinarily satisfying in its precision and poise as it builds to an epiphany on the nature of desire… "
The Italian Romance (2005)
NOW AVAILABLE in E-BOOK format. Click on link:
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Romance-Joanne-Carroll/dp/070223513X/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371494164&sr=1-12&keywords=The+Italian+Romance
At a party in the Ambassador's Residence in Rome, an
aging novelist sees a face she recognises. In Nazi-occupied Tuscany, a Jewish woman goes
on the run, helped by an escaped British p.o.w. In war-time Australia, a young married woman
chafes against her life until she meets the man who will change everything. And a daughter confronts her mother across the
years.
As she sits at her writing desk in her apartment in Rome, Lilian faces the reality that the innocent suffer while the guilty seem to be blessed. Engulfed by grief for the man she’s adored for fifty years, she is woven into her own story of redemption.
The Italian Romance is a novel about undeniable love and shocking loss. It is also the wry reflections of a woman who hides nothing from herself.
The Italian Romance, a novel, was published by UQP in Australia in May 2005 and is in its fourth re-print.
LATEST NEWS: It is now available in ebook format. Click on link below:
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Romance-Joanne-Carroll/dp/070223513X/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371494164&sr=1-12&keywords=The+Italian+Romance
As she sits at her writing desk in her apartment in Rome, Lilian faces the reality that the innocent suffer while the guilty seem to be blessed. Engulfed by grief for the man she’s adored for fifty years, she is woven into her own story of redemption.
The Italian Romance is a novel about undeniable love and shocking loss. It is also the wry reflections of a woman who hides nothing from herself.
The Italian Romance, a novel, was published by UQP in Australia in May 2005 and is in its fourth re-print.
LATEST NEWS: It is now available in ebook format. Click on link below:
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Romance-Joanne-Carroll/dp/070223513X/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371494164&sr=1-12&keywords=The+Italian+Romance
ABR (Australian Book Review), June-July 2005 issue, stated:
"Readers of Joanne Carroll’s first publication, the novellas In the Quietness of My Aunt’s House and Bad Blood (1996) will not be disappointed with The Italian Romance. It is a novel of great style. There is none of the slick optimism that we associate with popular romance; instead it deals with the most important issues and, at times, approaches tragedy rather than romance … Carroll’s writing is intensely dramatic … extraordinary vividness … Episodes from each strand alternate, intertwine and throw up similarities and oppositions, until they converge and are resolved. Carroll exploits the plot devices of classical romance … The Italian Romance is not to be underestimated."
The Italian Romance was also Book of the Month for the Australian Women's Weekly. In May 2005, Carol George, Books Editor, wrote:
"A beautifully wrought, utterly absorbing story ... full of emotion, drama, romance and moments that will break your heart, this book is simply unforgettable. Bravo!"
The Rhapsody of Sweeney (in progress)
The Rhapsody of Sweeney is a love story set against the turbulent politics of 19th century Ireland. The hero of the novel, John Sweeney, a Catholic, steps into the middle of a fight on a hill in Moira, Ulster, where his brother has taken on the Orangeman Stanhope Fleming. This one small event changes the course of his life. Now a convicted killer, he is transported to the penal colonies of NSW. The novel follows Sweeney as he attempts to piece together a new life in the harsh and inhospitable landscape of Australia and battles with the disastrous consequences of his impulsive action.
The Rhapsody of Sweeney is underpinned by allusion to the ancient Irish lyric poem, Buile Suibhne, about the mad Prince Sweeney who flies up into a tree during the 'bloodiest battle in all Ireland', the Battle of Moira, and who then is fated to remain in exile for the rest of his days.
The novel also has a contemporary resonance, illuminating through the character of John Sweeney the political rifts that have divided brother from brother in Ireland. Sweeney’s tragic trajectory maps how a certain kind of broken peace can
be achieved after a lifetime of loss.
The Rhapsody of Sweeney is a tale of erotic desire and of the fate that crosses one man’s life. A sectarian killing on a hill, convict transportation to Australia, the madness of loneliness in the bush all await the hapless Sweeney. But he will
never forget his great love. She will haunt him for a life-time.he Rhapsody of Sweeney (partial) was submitted for the M.Phil. in Creative Writing, Trinity College Dublin, and is now co
The Rhapsody of Sweeney (partial) was submitted for the M. Phil of Creative Writing,Trinity College Dublin.
A Reader’s Report (written by Dr Shirley Walker, Past President of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature) is very favourable:
The Rhapsody of Sweeney is underpinned by allusion to the ancient Irish lyric poem, Buile Suibhne, about the mad Prince Sweeney who flies up into a tree during the 'bloodiest battle in all Ireland', the Battle of Moira, and who then is fated to remain in exile for the rest of his days.
The novel also has a contemporary resonance, illuminating through the character of John Sweeney the political rifts that have divided brother from brother in Ireland. Sweeney’s tragic trajectory maps how a certain kind of broken peace can
be achieved after a lifetime of loss.
The Rhapsody of Sweeney is a tale of erotic desire and of the fate that crosses one man’s life. A sectarian killing on a hill, convict transportation to Australia, the madness of loneliness in the bush all await the hapless Sweeney. But he will
never forget his great love. She will haunt him for a life-time.he Rhapsody of Sweeney (partial) was submitted for the M.Phil. in Creative Writing, Trinity College Dublin, and is now co
The Rhapsody of Sweeney (partial) was submitted for the M. Phil of Creative Writing,Trinity College Dublin.
A Reader’s Report (written by Dr Shirley Walker, Past President of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature) is very favourable:
"It was a pleasure to read this novel. It’s a powerful story told with great intensity. The structure is tight and the pace relentless … It reminds me of a Pinter play where every word, every gesture, has the utmost significance … the novel has the dramatic unity which has always been associated with classical drama. It’s also a tragedy in the classical sense … The two erotic scenes are just fantastic … Both the Australian and the Irish backgrounds are finely drawn and superbly accurate ... stately and important … this is a very polished, sophisticated finished work."
The Russian and Mrs Greene (in progress)
A Communist official is arrested one winter’s night in Stalinist Russia. Defiantly, he disposes of his most precious possession – a letter from the woman he loved 20 years before.
From the deep winter of Stalinist Russia to the sleepy heat of northern Australia, The Russian and Mrs Greene sweeps across war and revolution, from belief to disillusion. Brisbane was an unlikely town for the extraordinary events of 1919 and echoes of worldwide horror and hope. Mrs Greene is an unlikely lover. But Isabel Greene has waited half a lifetime for her great passion. And she will not give it up easily.
The Russian and Mrs Greene is a novel based on the factual events in Brisbane Australia when Russian Bolshevik emigres were attacked by thousands of Australian troops just returned from the Great War. Alongside the main drama, the story of an Irish-Australian family and their insistence on flying the flag of the Easter Rising rebels puts the dichotomies in Australian politics at the time in sharp relief - trade unionism versus Bolshevism, Irish nationalism versus Empire. And Mrs Greene's friendship with the poor Irish family suggests the breaking down of class barriers. It was a time in history when the world changed rapidly and irrevocably.
The Russian and Mrs Greene was submitted for the Doctorate in Creative Arts, University of Technology, Sydney.
Dr Debra Adelaide said:
"Absolutely beautiful writing. It was a great pleasure to read this novel. I found it engaging right from the start. It’s a story I wanted to keep reading, and it draws great strength from the power of the narrative voice and the character of Isabel Greene."
Novelist Professor Gail Jones said:
"The Russian and Mrs Greene is an achievement of considerable sophistication, circumspection and a genuinely original piece of writing. Isabel's narration allows for a beautifully subtle registration of inner life, for the particularity of moments of perception and for the indirect announcement of internal conflict and contradiction ... At points the writing of Isabel emulates the finesse, confidence and nuance of a Penelope Fitzgerald description. [The Moscow section is a] wonderful piece of writing … cinematic in its structure and precision of detail, and the sense of night-time intrigue, threat and the lost possibilities of union are all constellated around our historical retrospection with regard to Stalinist violence. It is its subtleties, its ironies and its creative narrative manoeuvres that recommend The Russian and Mrs Greene to this reader."