These paper boats of mine are meant to dance on the ripples of hours, and not reach any destination... Rabindranath Tagore

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past...F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.
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On the way to the river are the old dormitories, used for something else now, with their fairy-tale turrets, painted white and gold and blue. When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.
--from Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.
- Joyce Carol Oates

Sunday, July 5, 2020

The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie...


The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie (1995) - Gary Crew and Peter Gouldthorpe


diamonds

a treasure map
secretly teasing on
a scrimshaw

diamonds
desired by
no less than
Queen Victoria

diamonds
tucked on
an island
a wind-stressed
island

diamonds
dancing in
the hungry soul
of
an obscure
painter

myth

legend

or history

yet
to be written






MY GOODREADS REVIEW
The Lost Diamonds of KilliecrankieThe Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie by Gary Crew
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie is a beautifully illustrated narrative of elusive treasure. It is a story that suggests it connects with an historical mystery surrounding green diamonds on Flinders Island, in the path of the Roaring Forties, off the east coast of Tasmania. Even the legendary Queen Victoria has a connection. I'll admit, however, that I was initially drawn to the book simply because I loved my brief life in Tasmania and longed to visit Flinders Island, a dream that was not fulfilled. So, in short, curiosity of place first drew me to this book. The opening combination of narrative and illustration I found most appealing, refreshing. However, as the narrative progressed, I felt it struggled to a rather melodramatic and abrupt tragedy. I could not but help wonder if that tragedy was really needed and, in fact, did it seem to slow and smudge the effect of the final scenes. I almost rated the book 2 stars, but felt that the beauty of the illustrations moved the rating to an actual 2.5 (but I could only rate 3).

View all my reviews
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