Barbara Yates Rothwell – författare

When the Nazis come to power, KLARA HOFFMAN is just past 30, daughter of a well-to-do Jewish cloth manufacturer. Heinrich, her fiance, becomes a Nazi, and she breaks off their engagement. Jacob, her young brother, dies from a beating by a Nazi official, and on November 12, 1938 her father, Ernst, dies following the violence of the "Night of Broken Glass". Klara''s brother Erik and her sisters have already left for the Americas. But Klara is sponsored by an English family, the Furlongs. She has to leave her mother, who eventually dies in the Auschwitz death camp. In England, Klara watches as war draws nearer. She strikes up a lasting friendship with Eleanor, the Furlongs'' 10-year-old daughter, in time becomes a cafe waitress, and hopes to marry a British soldier,who is killed in North Africa. As the years pass, she allows herself to become a ''character''. Eleanor comes back into her life as a young mother of two. Klara (now known as Clare) briefly returns to the Furlongs'' when she becomes homeless. Eventually she enters a retirement home where she makes cautious friends with an elderly artist inspired to return to portraiture by the strength and suffering he sees in her face. Klara''s story poses the question: was Klara as much a victim of the nazis as if she had died in the gas chamber? Perhaps her survival argues that everyone who survives mankind''s inhumanity is one more proof that the human spirit cannot ultimately be crushed. There is tragedy in Klara. But it is nt gloomy. It is a fictional biography based on a true story: Klara was sponsored out of Germany by the author''s parents in 1939. What is known of her life is used, and the known episodes are linked with fiction based on fact.

Lemuel, sixteen when he is sentenced to be transported to the other side of the world, maintains his innocence, but no one believes him. Following the voyage on a hell ship, where the gaoler Bulstrode makes life almost impossible, and Lemuels companion, Collie Barnes, fails to complete the journey, his luck changes and he becomes a clerk to Mr Larkville. But he never forgets his oath to defeat the greedy Bulstrode. When his brothers, Tim and Percy, join him, new hazards arise, and with exploration, challenges from corrupt soldiers and the constant struggle to survive, Lemuels life is full. But there are moments of delight to raise his spirits.

Andrea is adopted, and she has had a happy and satisfying life, loved by parents, husband, and children. But when her beloved husband dies suddenly, she decides to find her birth mother, and she soon realises that life has not necessarily been so satisfying for all adoptees. In a determined bid to find the truth, she meets a wary adoptee and relinquishing mothers whose stories affect her deeply. Too late to back out, Andrea unpicks the mystery of her own birth and pre-adoption life, but where will the knowledge lead her?

Australia has some fine and challenging arts/music festivals. I was involved with one some years ago as a music reviewer and found this story gradually forming in my mind. Murder, of course, is never funny and needs to be treated with respect, but I am certain that those who are involved with sorting out the whys and wherefores of a crime would agree that some of the characters who get involved do have their comic side.Marius Hogbein, the festival director, is horrified when his beloved festival becomes the scene for murder. The victims are all famous, and that bodes no good for the festivals reputation. But life has to go on, and he is dealing with performers who all have their own brand of ego to be reckoned with. The detective sergeant in charge of investigation, Nicholas Henry Jarvis Verdun, has no understanding of musicthough he does try. And having to deal with temperamental musicians is outside his job description.

In early 2016, my book Death at the Festival was published by Trafford. It was my first entry into writing a crime novel though I have written several short stories in the genre. This is the second, Death in Titipu. Like the first, it draws on my musical training; the previous one used a classical music festival as its background. This new book brings to life a small-town performance of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado, which, as devotees will recall, takes place in the town of Titipu. Who has taken all the fun out of it by killing . . . ? But read the book, and all will be revealed. There was a time within our memory when the police had fewer aids to assist in their search for the criminal than our contemporary peace keepers have access to. This story takes place at that time.