Julie Thorndyke – författare

Mrs Eileen Rickaby, a semi-retired botanical illustrator and Orchid Society member with a penchant for Mozart, lives a quiet ordered life with Missy, her cat. Her tranquillity is disturbed when close friend and neighbour Irene brings home a twice-widowed younger man of dubious character, and introduces him as her future husband. Petty theft, vandalism and violence disrupt the peaceful retirement village. How can Mrs Rickaby protect her friend from this con-man lover? Mrs Rickaby’s Lullaby is an engaging novel of haunting lyricism and gentle humour, exploring the timeless themes of love, loss and widowhood, friendship and belonging.

Julie Thorndyke’s two collections of tanka poetry, Rick Rack and Carving Granite, were published by Ginninderra Press. Editor of Eucalypt: a tanka journal since 2017, she also writes fiction and other poetry forms. Waiting for the Night, Julie’s picture book for children, was published by Interactive Press. Mrs Rickaby’s Lullaby is her first novel.

Survival, desire, disaster; misadventure, murder and magic combine in this unique collection of tales set in locations including old rural Australia, present-day cities and the distant mystical past. Twenty-seven short stories from renowned Australian fiction writer and poet Julie Thorndyke will take you on tantalising journeys in the company of artists and musicians, mothers and daughters, writers and lovers. as they make brave, desperate and audacious life choices. Earthquake, flood, fire; stolen babies and lost children; homelessness and betrayal; ghosts, mysteries and dreams - each story follows the journey of a richly imagined character as they act out their unique answer to the question ''What if?'' Divertimento offers a chance to step briefly into the shoes of each protagonist and discover how it feels to love, steal, murder...and live to tell the tale.

''Borrowed Riches is an apt title for this fine collection of 100 short lyrics composed by an experienced and skilful poet. With her deft usage of the traditional Japanese tanka form, Julie Thorndyke presents to the reader a range of thoroughly modern, yet universal, emotions expressed in poetry. The centrality of family, human relationships and love is a recurring motif. There are also descriptive pieces featuring birds and flowers, poems about Julie as an author and editor, introspective writing, romance, and nostalgia. A rich array of tanka indeed. And one which is not without some gentle humour. Bravo!'' - Amelia Fielden, poet and translator

''With the eye and heart of a poet and her own personal experience, Julie Thorndyke gifts us 100 tanka with universal themes including love, loss, and life - often in the exquisite frame of nature, blooming with birds, trees, flowers, the moon. When tanka are holistic, palpable, and redemptive, you find soul touching moments for the journey. In Borrowed Riches we have a new book to read unhurriedly, that will challenge, affirm, reassure and give us those moments.'' - Colleen Keating

''To open the pages of Borrowed Riches is to enter a calm and contemplative world. Julie Thorndyke''s keen observations of nature strike a deep chord and her insight into the nature of time and relationships is profound. This tanka collection is an important addition to any bookshelf.'' - Vanessa Proctor