Millwater Book of the Month

10 Millwaterbook of the month

Rain Music by Di Morrissey

This month, author and guest reviewer Karen McMillan introduces another great read: Rain Music by Di Morrissey

Di Morrissey is a very talented storyteller, and in her latest offering she has written another page-turning and enjoyable read. Rain Music has a great sense of place and local history, as well as characters to care for and a plotline that starts relatively slowly but builds to a heart-stopping finale.

Musician Ned Chisholm has been on the road since the death of his father, struggling with the tragedy. He decides to go to Cooktown in Far North Queensland to work on a musical, something he feels he needs space and concentrated time to pursue. But his mother, and his sister Bella, want him to come home on the anniversary of his father’s death to attend the dedication of a new hospital wing in his name. But Ned makes excuses about going, so Bella decides to try and find her brother and talk him into attending. At a crossroads in her relationship with her partner, and discouraged by her job, she takes an extended holiday and heads North. She eventually tracks Ned to remote Cooktown but, once there, events will dramatically change their lives forever.

Thoroughly enjoyable, with a nice blend of current day action and old history. I particularly loved learning about real life jazz singer Georgia Lee (real name Dulcie Rama Pitt).

Karen McMillan, author of Unbreakable Spirit and The Paris of the East www.karenm.co.nz

ROWENAs Lunch

Firstly: after the announcement in the last magazine that we had two vacancies another lady dropped out due to other commitments. So, we have welcomed 3 new ladies to the group: 2 from Millwater and 1 from Totara Views. The lady from Totara Views is the only member from that side of the magazine circulation area, and we are now back to full strength of 20 members again. Sadly, that is the maximum as it can become difficult to find places for lunch that can take a large group.

The January outing was to Mumbai Central on Millwater Parkway, and there were 11 ladies for lunch that day, as a few were away on holiday and others had previous commitments due to school holidays etc.

Mumbai Central stepped up to the mark and we had a lovely lunch. Some had the Dabba Wala lunch, which is served in the can stack; a few had the Mumbai Street Frankie Roll and at least one person had the Rotizza (a deliciously Mumbai Indian-flavoured version of a pizza). Everyone enjoyed their lunch and felt that it was excellent value for money.

As usual, a great deal of chatting went on, and by trying to sit next to someone different each lunch we are gradually getting to know more about each person as time goes by.