Covering a wide range of emotive issues from frustrated ambition to religious and cultural differences and understanding, political correctness in the classroom, the underrated effect of homesickness, the slippery search for self, in Perspectives, Tangea Tansley offers a selection of impassioned stories that evoke all the pain, wonder -- and sometimes the joy -- of the human condition. More than just a collection of short stories and memoir, this is a book that turns the spotlight on some of the major issues of our time as well as recognising the nature of our innate humanness.
Sad, happy, funny or true, the stories are told from a multitude of different viewpoints that provide a reflection of the world we live in. A schoolteacher steels himself against a pupil's attempt at seduction; the life of a young mother changes due to an impulsive but, as it turns out, serendipitous purchase; an out-of-work artist finds that all is not lost after all; a boy and his dog fight the system; and a lost and lonely young man finds an unexpected friend -- but is it too late?
In Memoir, Tansley investigates her own feelings on discovering her Jewish background, relates the uplifting story of an elderly friend who finds romance, reveals her memories of her mother's struggle with chronic longing for Africa -- and in a series of three short pieces, Once Were Immigrants, underscores the essential human need for connection.
As a bonus under Postscript, the author has taken the unusual step of including a story written by her late father, Ken Coton, another story of connection told from the point-of-view of a racehorse, and broadcast more than once around the world.
A number of pieces in this collection -- both fiction and non-fiction -- have won awards in national competitions, been published in literary journals, newspapers and anthologies, and broadcast nationally.
Tangea Tansley is the author of several books of fiction and non-fiction including the critically acclaimed A Break in the Chain, Out of Place, Heytesbury Stud, Our Grand Design and For Women Who Grieve. She has a website at www.tangeatansley.com.
Author Biography:
I was born on a small farm in central Africa and lived and worked around the world before settling in WA. My professional background was spent mainly in the communications industry (writing, editing, publishing, public relations in Johannesburg, Hong Kong and Perth), more latterly lecturing/tutoring at Murdoch and Notre Dame Universities. I have first-class honours in creative writing from UWA and a doctorate in cross-cultural literature from Murdoch. The last story in the collection under the heading of Postscript is published posthumously, the author being my father who died in 2008. Ken Coton was born in Sydney, spent many years in Melbourne as a journalist and travelled all over the world before returning to Perth towards the end of his working life. My father Ken Coton first became interested in storytelling at Prep School in Melbourne where he conducted lunchtime instalments of improvised serial stories. His first short story was published at age thirteen. As a young man he was a journalist on daily newspapers for some years - an occupation he held responsible for destroying his passion for storytelling, which he called the 'real business of writing'. Then Came Fury was first broadcast by the ABC in 1970.
