Linda Bettanay gave an entertaining talk on the stories around Western Australian families which feature in her three books - Wishes for Starlight, Apple Core Wars and Secrets Mothers Keep.
Author Linda Bettenay was our guest speaker on 04 March and she came along with her husband Mike Moore. Linda gave members and guests a very vibrant account of how she got into writing books - three of them to date. But Linda's focus has changed from the "read my story" approach to "write down your story" instead. Linda was a teacher in country towns for many years and thus loves WA passionately. She describes her style as historical faction - a mix of fact and fiction. Linda's first book "Secrets Mothers Keep" resulted from her husband Mike's discovery in 2012 that his grandfather had been brutally murdered in 1928. The next book "Wishes for Starlight" is about a mixed blood, deaf mute Aboriginal boy who was "discovered" by three white children who looked after him through thick and thin in the early 1900s. One of the three was Linda's grandfather. The third book "Apple Core Wars" is set at the time of the Second World War and follows the story of two Perth Hills boys who were rivals competeing for the attentions of the beautiful Stella and joust for superiority before both signing up for war. The land up in the same unit and as POWs they ultimately survive the bombing of Nagasaki. Linda stressed the need to record the stories of real people so that their legacy is not lost forever. A great talk!