Life's Journey
by Patricia S. Gibbons
GENRE: FICTION / Biographical
BLURB:
Penelope,
aged 9, and her family emigrate from the UK to Australia. This book
covers her journey onboard the ship and her family's friendship with
a Greek family. This friendship continues in Australia throughout
their life's journey.
The book includes the life effects
of being interfered with as a child, and the ups and downs of
adopting children. Along the way there is mystery, murder, love and
disappointment.
Patricia Gibbons keeps you intrigued and
in wonder of what is to come.
An exciting read!
Get your copy of Life's Journey
BARNES & NOBLE ~ BOOK DEPOSITORY
Excerpt:
September 19th, 1951, was my ninth birthday. The P&O Liner Ranchi pulled away from Tilbury Docks in the United Kingdom, bound for an unknown future in Australia, its engines roaring through the water, drowning out the singing from our friends and family gathered at the dock to bid us farewell. I could hear them singing and attempting to harmonise their favourite Vera Lynn war tune, ‘We’ll meet again’ as well as ‘Good night, Irene.’ The sights and sounds will stay in my memory forever.
My name is Penelope (the family calls me Penny), and the immigration of the family to Australia was a sad day for me, but a day of excitement and wonder for my mother Ada and my two sisters, Shirley, who was sixteen, Kate, fourteen, and my elder brother John, who was eighteen.
Dad had made the journey to Australia two years before, and mum longed to see him again on our arrival in Melbourne, Victoria. It was not long before this when Dad returned to the United Kingdom from the war. The family had been evacuated from our house in London when the Germans bombed it. We had so many unpleasant memories of the bombings in London, the air raid shelters, the Germans bombing our school, and finally having to evacuate to the country. After the war, when Dad arrived home, he decided there was a better life for us all in Australia.
Being in the Royal Air Force, it was not a difficult thing for Dad to ask for a transfer to The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and make the trip to Australia to set up house for us all in this new land. Dad had met several Australians while fighting in the war, and he grew to like their sense of fun and their outlook on life. They painted a picture of Australia in Dad’s mind as a land of opportunity, a great place to start a new life. As a number of his mates were stationed at the Point Cook Air Force base in Melbourne, he applied to be posted there, and it was granted. So on September 19th, 1951, we were on our way.
The trip to Australia took six weeks. We travelled through the Suez Canal, and it was an adventure for all the family. The giant liner was a huge playground for us. There were immigrants from the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, and other countries on board, and one of the Greek families – The Papadopoulos family – became good friends with us all. They had three sons and a daughter. The boys were Sebastian, ten, who became my first boyfriend; Alex, who was just the right age at eighteen to be a friend for John; Theo, a good looking dark haired typical Greek boy of seventeen years, who was to become Shirley’s onboard romance, and last but not least, was a fifteen-year-old girl called Mia who was the right age as a friend for Kate who was very outspoken, Mia was quite shy and Kate bossed her around. It seemed to work out fine between them, and they became inseparable.
Interview with Patricia S. Gibbons
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
The theme of the book is my life journey. There are a few tweaks, but most of the book is my life.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
I feel my life has been an interesting one, and wanted to put it to paper.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The hardest part of the book was including stories related to my adopted children. I would not have been able to include these stories until the grandchildren were told that their parent was adopted. I did not want to encroach on my children’s lives in any way. My daughter allowed me to put her stories in regard to her mother trying to contact her, and also my son did not know that I had written down his father’s name until I wrote the book. His name is still on a piece of paper in my safe.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I enjoyed bringing my family out in the book. It brought back lots of memories for me.
Where there alternate endings you considered?
I did not consider endings so much as I am writing my second book which continues on from the 1st book, but also goes back and includes other parts of my life that were important to me. My life continues on.
Can you share some stories about people you met while researching this book?
The people in the book are my family, friends and patients.
What genre of books do you enjoy reading?
I do enjoy reading murder mysteries, and hence I included a couple in my book to make it a little more interesting to the reader.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Patricia writes under the fictitious name of Patricia Gibbons. She has lived a busy life and some of her adventures are in her new novel, Life’s Journey, but not all:
In her teenage years singing and dancing were also one of Patricia’s loves and she appeared in a number of stage performances.
Patricia successfully bred Rottweilers for 42 years, and wrote her first book The Rottweiler In Australia about the first 20 years. She published this book back in the mid-1980’s. After becoming an All Breeds Dog Judge, Patricia judged Championship Dog Shows all over Australia, and she travelled overseas to judge in the UK, USA, New Zealand, Malaya, the Philippines and China.
Patricia has a Diploma in Classical Homeopathy and Bach Flower Remedies.
Connect with Patricia Gibbons
5 comments:
Great excerpt and interview.
Thanks for hosting!
I liked the excerpt, thank you.
different
Hi everyone, thanks for comments on my book. Very interested in your comments after reading the book. Thank you to Goddess Virtual Book Tour for hosting.
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