Paula from Tasmania
BY PAULA XIBERRAS
Esther‘s fostering knowledge through academic assistance Esther Simpson was the real life woman who inspired Caroline Beecham’s latest novel ‘Esther’s Children’. Once again Caroline continues to discover extraordinary but little known women from history giving them their chance to shine. Esther Simpson’s name has not been a high profile one and few have heard of this remarkable woman who did unique, hard ground work to rescue academic refugees during war. The title Esther’s Children refers to the fact that if Esther had not rescued these academic refugees during the time of harsh regimes in Europe through the organisation known as the academic assistance. they would not have had the chance to allow their research and knowledge to ‘grow’ to adulthood and create change in the world. Their lives and subsequent success was fostered by Esther as she worked in Austria in 1936 for the council of academic assistance. The novel while telling a true live story gives some poetic and romantic license because as Caroline says ‘Esther’ deserves it’. We don’t know anything about if this busy and dedicated woman had any romantic affiliations but in the book she gets a romantic storyline with Harry Singer, a young musician and academic. Esther herself had academic qualifications in languages and was like Harry a talented musician. There is a playlist in the book that allows the reader to listen to some of Esther’s music on Spotify. In 1940 refugees were interned as enemy agents on the Isle of Man and this is what happens to Harry Singer. Those that had to live through this experience were doctors, lawyers, painters, lecturers and performers. They survived by practicing their crafts. Esther saved 16 Novel prize winners, without her intervention many advancements in knowledge we have today would not have existed. People like Nikolaus Pevsner an architect, Karl Popper a philosopher and Ludwig Guttman, Neurologist and the man that formed the idea of what we now know as the Paralympics. There was also Ben Elton’s father physicist and educator Lewis Elton.
Esther is at last being given the recognition she deserves with a blue plaque at Leeds, the place of her birth. Esther’s Children is out now published by Allen and Unwin. - Reviewed by Paula Xiberras.
Starry, Starry eyes and the eyes of a child, for this Vincent The Journey since his win on Australia’s Got Talent at just 15 years of age has been phenomenal, Mark tells me when we chatted recently on the release of his new album. ‘In The Eyes Of A Child’ is his tenth studio album. The other nine have all reached #1 on the ARIA classical crossover charts. In the time since his win he has toured both at home and overseas and experienced marriage and fatherhood. We talk about how being a father has influenced the songs on the new album and also about his friendship with Ireland’s Tommy Fleming. ‘In the eyes of a child’ signals a change for Mark. Since his last album his life has changed dramatically. He has married and had a child, his son Matteo in 2020. The album is a family one in and demonstrates how he’s been able to connect emotionally to songs like ‘In the eyes of a child’ that he couldn’t before the birth of Matteo. Songs like ‘Have you ever really loved a woman’ connects with his wife and a couple of other songs ‘Il Mondo’ ad ‘A time for us’ were favourites of his grandfather and connects with their relationship. Away from studio albums, Mark has done musical theatre and was chosen by Dame Julie Andrews to play Freddy Eindfelde in the 2017 production of My Fair Lady. Another dream has seen him sing ‘Because you’re mine’ alongside his hero Mario Lanza. When asked what songs on the album are his favourites, Mark says all of them. Mark says he is respectful of all genres of music not just his niche of classical and that all music is valuable, especially so through COVID. It was on a cruise that Mark first met Tommy Fleming who had sold 2 million albums.
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