Margaret Lowman writes candidly about her life... as though we were the closest of friends. I expected her to write about her research, the difficulties of climbing into the rainforest canopies, and her globe trotting. And she did. She also writes of the professional challenges, cultural clashes, and personal problems she encounters as a woman in field biology, and that makes this book something quite special.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: Lowman married an Australian, had two children and lived in the outback, while conducting research on the Australian rain forests. On the personal side, she was expected to be a housewife, and mother. Her new Australian husband, and in-laws, did not understand her inner drive to spend time in her work. While clearly her new family did not support her in her work, Lowman persisted and achieved. She also made a decision to accept a teaching position at Williams College back in the US. She packed up the boys, and headed for home. She exchanged her marriage, and the boy's father, for a surprisingly supportive scientific community and her own supportive parents. Lowman tells of her personal life with candor, but without bitterness. While no one could accuse her of having an ordinary life, Lowman's book is also an every woman's story in that she chronicles the kind of day-to-day struggle of professional/career women faced (particularly in the 1970's and 1980's) in balancing career and family.

ON THE PROFESSIONAL SIDE: To help understand the interdependence of the rainforests Lowman mostly studies the small things... leaves, and the insects that eat them. It sounds easier than it is. Most of the leaves to be studied are high up in the canopy of the rain forests. Early in her career, she gains access using ropes and harnesses, and even a cherry picker when she was pregnant; later she has the luxury of using a construction crane, a dirigible, and even a walkway. Lowman loves the forests, and her work. (Her book contains an illustration of her favorite tree, ficus watkinsiana.)

Lowman ends the book telling us that it takes about the "same amount of energy to complain as it does to explain-but the results are incredibly different." Her book explains a great deal. I highly recommend it.

This unique book is about Margaret Lowman's life as a self-described field biologist who studies the mysteries of forest canopies, one of the last biotic frontiers on Earth. In Life in the Treetops, Lowman is a pioneer canopy scientist she describes the little known worlds of the treetops, their inhabitants, flowers and fruits, growth and mortality, patterns of diversity, and plant and animal interactions. Lowman writes about how, in order with the scientific hypothesis she was focusing on, a different canopy access technique was used. She's particularly good at exposing the life of a field biologist from a woman's perspective, what it was like to cope: with the demands of a challenging career; with marriage to an Australian sheep farmer; with housewifery; with motherhood to two young sons; with conflicting cultural differences about gender roles; and with divorce and single parenthood. Lowman's descriptions of her various arboreal ecological projects were fascinating. She emphasized the pleasures and intellectual rewards of studying the natural world without ignoring the projected vicissitudes of researching in wilderness settings. In the end Lowman is the director of research and conservation at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. This is an inspiring story for everyone, not just for women or those interested in careers in science, but for everyone.

As a young woman who hopes with all her heart and works with all of her passion to be a scientist one day, I recommend this novel without a doubt. Dr. Lowman attacks every issue she faces head on, candidly describing her emotion and scientific endeavors as if the reader is a personal friend. As a female, I myself can relate to her described frustration of being a woman in a primarily male field. Even my closest male friends look at me with doubt and treat my five year love affair (ongoing, of course) with science as a joke simply because I am female (as the butt of their jokes imply). It's wondorous to read of other accounts involving similar emotion. On a scientific note, Dr. Lowman makes no adjustments for fear of the reader who does not care for biology; she writes about science just as she writes about emotion. For that, I urge parents to prod their children to read this memoir, adults to read, and all others to digest.

Steve Irwin, Animal Planet's "Crocodile Hunter", and his wife/co-star Terri, bring their wildlife adventures to book form, and it works pretty well.

The hardback book has excellent production value - glossy pages and loads of color photos. Very niuce, and informative if you don't know what a perentie looks like.

Steve's persona on tv - that of the highly excitable wildman who picks up venomous snakes and wrestles gigantic crocodiles - is no act. He describes it as merely having an enthusiasm for wildlife, and that enthusiasm is contagious. The book tells of how he developed this love of animals (basically, he was raised with it). Terri tells of how they met and fell head over heels in love at first sight. On their first date, Steve told her "You're not at all ladylike!" (which he meant as a compliment, it's sweet, in a weird way).

Neither of the Irwins are particularly stylish writers. The phrase "passion for wildlife" is repeated often, making the text occasionally sound repetetive, though not insincere. Still, both are gifted storytellers. Just like their tv show, the book draws you in to their world. You feel like you're right there with them trying to save a giant reptile that's trying to rip you apart.

If the book has a shortcoming (aside from the minor fact that some of the tales will be familiar to regular viewers of the tv show) it's that it is too short. Steve does impart a good deal of knowledge about his beloved wildlife, but could have explained more. For example, he tells that apex predators like crocodiles are key to the health of an ecosystem - true, but he doesn't elaborate on why. Terri tells informative and fascinating anecdotes about caring for a wide variety of creatures at the Australia Zoo. I wanted more of those.

Overall, the book does a good job in its primary mission: making you interested in animals, so that you'll care enough to try to fight for their survival.

I am already a big fan of "The Crocodile Hunter" TV show, so I was thrilled to learn that Steve and Terri Irwin had written a book about their true-life adventures. Actually, I am a "huge" fan of the show. I wondered, however, if the book would contain anything that I didn't already know from watching the "Crocodile Hunter" series. Sure enough, I learned even more about this incredible couple who spend just about every waking hour advancing wildlife conservation. Steve's childhood was a joy to read about, as well as the many crocodile adventures he actually lived through to see the light of another day. Terri's description of how they met and married was a delight. In true "Crocodile Hunter" style, Steve's stories jump off the pages to grab you. For an instant, I was right along side Steve wrestling the biggest crocodiles you ever saw! Steve and Terri's love of wildlife is contagious and their continuous promotion of wildlife causes around the world is truly a genuine endeavor. Reading this book brought to mind the time I personally met Terri Irwin. She was as feminine and genuine as they come, but when I shook her hand, it was obvious that she really does physically work at the Australia Zoo. I was impressed! Steve and Terri live their lives the way they say they do, and the reader of this book will get a look into their private world as well. This adventure book is a true delight!

This is a fantastic look into the life of Steve and Terri Irwin. I've learned tons from watching The Crocidile Hunter and through this book....I never knew one snake from another or one crocidile from another for that matter. :)

If you're a fan of the tv show you'll love this book. Steve shares his passion for crocidiles and other wild life along with a great look behind the scenes at their zoo.

I had inundated myself with reading several British chic-lit books in a short time and I was ready for something slightly different. BAGGAGE offered me the British chic-lit style but with a new backdrop - the Australian outback.
Lina is married teacher with a 10-year old adopted son and a baby on the way. When a vacationer from England happens upon this small Australian town in the hot outback, Lina's relatively normal life takes on quite a twist. Sex, lies, drugs, and scandal all make their way into this story, just to name a few.
Although this story came across as predictible, it kept me interested until nearly the end at which point I feel the story slowed. However, I do think it's quite worth the read. Emily Barr creates an excellent depiction of scandal in a small town, and makes her characters believable.
The past can always come back to haunt you...

When I picked this book up, I thought it would be a typical chick flick ~~ it wasn't. Much to my surprise, it's somewhat of a mystery book ~~ and I enjoyed it immensely! At least, I have a better idea of what Australia is like!

Lina is preoccupied with hiding her pregnancy from the villagers of Craggy Rock, a desert town in Australia. She hasn't even told her 10-year-old son yet ~~ and the next day, her whole life changes upon a chance meeting with an Englisher who was insistent that Lina is her best friend, who had disappeared ten years previous. Lina insists that she's Lina, wife to Tony and mother to Red ~~ is she hiding something more than she is willing to let on? And Barr writes convincingly of a woman with a past ~~ how the past catches up with her and the sleazy journalists who swarmed over the sleepy desert town just to get the hottest story of the year.

It is a quick read ~~ perfect beach read ~~ and it's not one of the fluffy chick lit either. Don't let the cover fool you. If there were sex scenes in that book, there weren't that many and it wasn't graphic either. The characters were more preoccupied with alcohol than sex ~~ which is an unusual change of pace for me! But it was an enjoyable read ~~ Barr is one author I would like to read more on...

Baggage is a suspenseful and complex novel about a woman who thought she had escaped her painful past. Lina Pritchett has finally found the normalcy she's always craved. She's an elementary school teacher in a small Australian town, has a loving husband and an adorable adopted ten-year-old son. However, her ordered world shatters when she reunites with an old friend -- a friend who had left her for dead years ago. What is Lina hiding? And will she be able to escape her past again? To make matters worse, she is pregnant. There are various twists in the novel.

Emily Barr is a great new voice in fiction. Baggage is readable from cover to cover. I devoured it in two days. I look forward to reading Backpack, her first novel.

Coldwater, basically, is based on the lives of the 3 Bronte sisters; Charlotte, Anne, and Emily, writers of "Jane Eyre," "Agnes Grey," and "Wuthering Heights" respectively. McConnochie, taking what little is known about the three and reimagines their lives with this engrossing novel.

It is set on Coldwater, an island off the coast of Australia and home to a penal colony where their father is sort of the governor/prison warden. The sisters dream of being novelists and getting as far away from Coldwater as possible, where they are miserable. They decide to use their writing talents to earn money and help them to move back to England.

McConnochie tells the story through each characters eyes, switching narratives and at times even writing style. McConnochie does a great job, I think, of switching to each characters' unique personality. I can't say that I have read a lot of Bronte (I've only read Jane Eyre all the way through) but I think she may even switch writing style according to character because Charlotte and Emily's sections are in first person, while Anne's in third. An ambitious first novel, I think McConnochie handled it with style and I will definitely keep my eye out for more from her.

Coldwater is a fascinating book about 3 women Charlotte, Emily and Anne who have lived there last 8 years on the island of coldwater, which just so happens to be a prison. No anne charalotte and emily are not convicts. They are the daughters of Captain Wolf, who owns the prison even as they go about there normal lives the prison is beginnign to affect them too. When a convict attempts to murder there father they're suddenlly faced with the notion of what would happen if he were to die? Where would they stay? Charlotte has the bright idea of becoming authors to make there money so they set out to do this, but then there life begins to take some unexpected turns.

Written in four different peoples views, this facsinating novel toys with the idea that your sourroundings now can affect you for the rest of your life. This is a truly magnificent story, but rememer does not end with a Disney ending. A wonderful book for young adults and adults

Coldwater is a thrilling, chilling, and fulfilling book. It is about three sisters who live on the penal colony island of Coldwater with their father, Captain Wolf, in the 1830's. Charlotte, Anne, and Emily, however, are not children, but in their late 20's and early 30's. The main character, Charlotte, becomes worried after a prisoner's attack on her father nearly takes his life. With no friends or family, they'd have nowhere to go if her father died, so she decides she and her sisters should take up writing-so they do. But Emily soon falls for an Irish convict, with whom she meets in dreams, and somehow they know each other. Their father falls into an illness, half mental, half physical, and the island is soon in chaos as the prisoners plan an uprising. With secret meetings of all sorts, the islanders become woven into an intricate web of plot.
Although I found this a very good book, I neither felt nor understood the sibling relationships. The introduction of two new characters towards the end of the book caused slight shock, for they really had a lot to do with the plot from the beginning and were not even mentioned until the last 80 pages, and it gets slightly gory in the end. However, my final impression was quite good, and I would definitely recommend it.

Remembering Babylon is the story of Gemmy - washed up on the Australian coast as a boy after a life of harshness that is hard to imagine, he is taken in by group of Aborigines. Sixteen years later, he makes himself known to the white community of northern Queensland, where he causes the community to examine not only it's attitude towards what is 'civilised', but also causes them to look inwards upon themselves.

This is a story about frontiers - the physical frontier of the small community that Gemmy joins; the frontier of the new state of Queensland; and the frontier between civilised and primitive. There is some beautiful work in this book, especially in its examination of small community dynamics, and coming of age. But I feel that Malouf starts threads that he doesn't bother to finish - the ambiguous characters of Mrs. Hutchence and Leona are introduced with promises of an exotic past, yet we never get to know them. George the school teacher is developed, only to be left out of the second half of the story. While Malouf manages to pack a lot of punch into a short tale, I feel that perhaps just a little be of expansion would have made this an even better book. But I will admit that I got a kick out of reading a story set in my home state of Queensland - it is nice to see that there is some Australian historical fiction set somewhere other than the Southern States!

Malouf doesn't need much introduction, in all truth, the fairest comment one can make is "read him." With that said and in the spirit of contradiction, here is why I believe "Remembering Babylon" is such a great work of literature. The main story of "Remembering Babylon" is the return of Gemmy, a White young man to a European enclave in Australia, after having being thrown overboard from a ship and having lived among the Aborigenes since he washed ashore. Now this is the way the book begins, but it's narrative takes deeply into the heart of longing and pain of many of the people who settled there. To me Gemmy, and through him everyone else in the novel, returns to a deeper place called language. Language not only as forgotten words but language as the site of his memory where the body recounts what has been exposed to and endured. Language that also shows each settler's agony in a strange land, unable to grasp the vast difference of human and landscape in whihc they live. It's not a coincidence that the women of the settlement can expressed such compassion for Gemmy, thay know something about being different themselves. As a matter of fact the women in the story are among the most thorough and true-to-life complex renditions of a woman's character, that I have found as portrayed by a male writer. This a story of people who have left their place of birth, however that happened, and lived ever since in that space that never reaches the end destination fully nor is able to ever return to the place of the original departure. In this sense, no one in the colony is exempt. Everyone dwells in this place which is not limbo as much as a cauldron where hope and despair burn, and it might turn into a new identity, a singular dignity. Perhaps my reading is quite personal and not what you expect to make a decision to buy a book. But this is what this book might offer you, a journey to a time and place wher you might even find yourself.

When abandoned 'British object' Gemmy Fairley sprints away from his Aboriginal protectors and into a white settlement of mid-nineteenth-century Queensland, it's the occasion for both wonder and hostility. For Malouf, it's an opportunity to explore many aspects of language, landscape and Australian identity. In the various reactions of the townsfolk, and Gemmy himself, he elucidates his themes. It's a novel full of complex images, acute observations, and heartbreaking lyricism. Once again, Malouf effortlessly fuses personal moments with grand themes. This is a more complex and elliptical work than his earlier novels, but no more or less satisfying - it's hard to improve on perfection. Shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize, 'Remembering Babylon' - from the breadth (and depth) of its scope to the finest details of its execution - leaves the actual winner for dead.

... but then again, not, because it is so obviously fantasy and too unbelieveable. A really excellent read, recommended to all.
A review titled "Don't buy it, don't read it, don't TOUCH IT!" should not be paid any attention whatsoever. That was written as a joke.

I don't know what book these Australian reviewers have read but The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody has been one of my favorite books since 1994. I have read the book at least eight or nine times. I am 18 years old and i still love this book. It has a wonderfully gripping story line and the characters are multidimentional and intriguing. Ofcourse it's not the best book in the whole world but it deserves nothing less than four stars. I've read everything from Anne Rice to Francesca Lia Block to Virgil and Shakespeare. And this book goes on the shelf of reread again and again. It's just a sweet story that has many deep meanings that everyone should read no matter their age.

Carmody shows her mastery of plot and theme in "The Gathering" as she writes about the sinister town of Cheshunt, where Nathanial has been drawn. He finds others like himself, called to fight the evil that grew a long time ago in Cheshunt. Just as good- the Circle has been called to fight evil, so has the Darkness been called. Nathanial, must not only face this evil, but the hostility of the "good" members of the circle, and the betrayal within the circle as he searches for the answer to unlock the key of the evil in Cheshunt, and forever purge the evil that has lain there for so long. A thoroughly superb book to be read by any age, and person, it's unputdownable!

This is a lovely book, but it's a children's book: I bet the publishers simply wanted to widen the possible market by playing down that aspect. I understand that Louis de Bernieres is more than halfway through his next "grown-up" novel and has just been having some interim fun with Red Dog. Why not? I certainly enjoyed reading it and appreciated the stylish drawings. It's an elegant package.

Louis De Bernieres has written some marvelous literature. "Red Dog", is a wonderful true story about a dog that befriended a good portion of Australia, and has been memorialized with a bronze statue as well as other books. Faithful readers of this author will likely be disappointed if they expect another sweeping novel. This short story does not appear to have been planned, as it unfolds with crisp episodes in the remarkable life of this canine. It is extremely unusual in that the book has been illustrated with what appear to be etchings. Illustration has sadly become the domain of primarily very expensive, limited edition, small press books.

This is not a child's book, perhaps for young readers in Junior High, but not for young children. This is a book about adults and how a remarkably charismatic canine changed their lives. This is not a fairly tale, it includes the realities of very trying circumstances and the people who pioneer the way in this extremely difficult environment. When it gets hot in the USA warnings suggest certain groups stay indoors. When it gets hot down under, warnings are issued for gas tanks that are prone to explode when exposed to the sun!

I think it is great that an author who has established himself as an accomplished literary writer would have the courage to step well away from what has worked for him repeatedly. I was reminded of some of John Steinbeck's work that centered around animals, both his own and fictional. If John Steinbeck can make the change I believe it is safe for other accomplished authors to explore unfamiliar genres, and they do not deserve to be punished for doing so. This is especially the case when the results are so worthwhile. I was going to give this 4 stars but I stepped it up to 5. The book was punished and I wanted to even out what is a brief but entering read.

Red Dog by Louis de Bernieres is an absolute gem. I have come to the conclusion that in the big picture of our existence as humans the only thing that means anything is our capacity to love and how we treat each other. We are living in a difficult time of unspeakable human cruelty and greed. This book reminds me that not all humans are horrible, some actually "get it" and that we are indeed lucky when we can share our lives with dogs and other animals. They teach goodness by example, something we humans should take more notice of. I recommend this book highly; keep a box of tissues nearby.

Simply put, I have read THE TRANSIT OF VENUS many times over, and am always astonished to find new layers of meaning in this exquisite tapestry of a novel. Following two sisters from their Australian childhood through their lives in London, Hazzard is uncompromising and true to her tale. The style is unique; the episodes thrilling. Lovers, husbands, places and careers are set before these two women and before us, and even the most cameo appearance of a character or scene is rendered with the skill, reality and destiny-laden force given the heroines. Even when that destiny is tragically small. This is a novel on a par with the greatest of Eliot. From page one, Hazzard reveals a world where Fate and personal nature duel, often to the cold victory of the one and to pain for the other. But there is beauty in the pain we see; for us, and for these women we come to know so well. No one who cares about modern literature can afford to pass this by, and TRANSIT is more than deserving of the many fresh reads I intend to give it.

It is hard to do justice to this masterful work. I finished it several days ago but the emotional images are still lingering. This is a wise, moving and many layered novel that absorbed my attention more than any book I have read in years. It is not a quick read, the style is somewhat formal, but the rewards are well worth the time investment. I expect to return to this book again and again over the years and I strongly recommend it for "readers" who find many books too shallow or light.

The Transit of Venus is the only novel I return to again and again through the years. When Shirley Hazzard writes the line, "Although the dissolution of love creates no heroes, the process itself requires heroism," it speaks not to the mind trying to follow a plot line, but to the depths of the heart and soul. Early on in the book there is a scene, that serves no essential purpose for advancing the plot. The two would-be lovers are on a bus. The bus doesn't lurch and they are not thrown together in an embrace. Not moved by fate, their orbits take them in different directions. It's a very subtle interaction, one that will surely be lost on the Harlequin crowd. This novel took seven years to write. It is one of the finest, most delicately constructed works of art, you will ever read.

Had Illywhacker been my first encounter with Carey, I would likely have enjoyed it more. But I've read Bliss. And Bliss is brilliant.

Carey is a great writer, but his editor was too nice with this one. This book could be half as long, without losing any of the characters, descriptions, or plot twists that Carey is capable of.

It starts off well enough, but there are blocks in which nothing happens, and it gets boring. I hate it when books get boring.

Also, the ending is far too preachy and doesn't seem to jive with the rest of the book.

There's another Bliss in there, but it's bogged down by an extra 200 pages that keep this book from really flying.

An enjoyable read, nonetheless.

Peter Carey seems to be a great literary secret -- hugely imaginative, immensely readable, a touch surreal, full of startlingly accurate insight into the frailties of humanity, and just plain funny -- but until I came to Australia I hadn't heard of him and his stunningly absorbing novels. His books are TERRIFIC.

Illywhacker is, on one level, a highly absorbing story about a born liar and showman and his varied life across southeastern Australia during the twentieth century. But on a deeper level, Illywhacker is a complex allegory about Australia itself, with interwoven and tangled images of cages, the uses and abuses of lying, Australia's search for itself vs. the UK and US, Australian animals, and Australia's simultaneous entanglement with and rejection of the Asian cultures with which it coexists. The result is a complicated, thoughtful, and even disturbing portrait of a maturing Australia that has made me reassess my own view of the country. Read Illywhacker! for the amusing liar's tale, read Illywhacker for the thoughtful commentary on Australia's national self-consciousness and insecurity -- but either way, read it!

Carey is an excellent storyteller, with a gift for witty juxtaposition and dropping plot bombs on his readers. We've all known someone a little bit like Herbert Badgery: "I am a liar. I am one hundred and thirty-seven years old." So it's a shaggy-dog story about a pathological liar who has a lot of charm and can lead people to believe exactly what they'd like to believe in the first place.

However, this book has garnered many awards, and wide critical acclaim, and I don't see why. Many people say it is symbolic of Australian culture and history. Perhaps I, as an American who hasn't even been to Australia, don't know enough about Australian history to fully read Herbert Badgery as a stand-in for Australia itself, or to catch the many historical references that Carey has probably hidden in the book. Yet my position is likely similar to that of most of Carey's prospective readers; he cannot assume a deep knowledge of Australian history from someone who is just picking up the book as a pleasure read. Maybe I will give the book another try, this time explicitly trying to dissect it as an analogy and as "great literature." Right now, I can only see it as a pleasurable and fairly simple read.

In summary, this is a highly entertaining novel, even if its headier aspects are lost on many readers. Carey is a long-winded storyteller, but a very funny one, and the interweaving plot of Badgery, his mythical airplane factory, and the people who surround him is engaging and humorous.

4 Stars for writing style; 2 stars for the implications and reason for publishing. One cannot comment on this book without making reference to Gillian Helfgott's book as well. Margaret cannot be 100% wrong. David and Gillian Helfgott cannot be 100% wrong. Therefore, I took both Gillian's book and Margaret's book and began comparisons. Several things struck me: what man would pick up his family, force them to travel 2000 miles, and all with no prospects or money? (I mention this since the biggest bone of contention seems to be the father, Peter--his actions at certains times were questionable behavior by any stretch of the imagination.) Next, why are some of David's siblings literally beaming in the photo (in Gillian's book) taken with Actress Redgrave during the filming of SHINE? I could go on and on, but I think the truth lies somewhere in-between the two books. It's unfortunate that this book has and may continue to overshadow David's career and Gillian's sincerity. Read this book with the proverbial grain of salt. Besides, Margaret's childhood was not necessarily David's, unless she was with him 24 hours per day. The only good thing about the book is the obvious love the author has for her deceased father. Of course, Gillian made an effort in her book, too, to show that there were happy times and love. No stars for how Margaret took some of what Gillian had to say out of context. This leaves the book with a very iffy three stars.

I recall after seeing "Shine", I remarked to a friend that while I enjoyed the film, "It sadly doesn't happen that way in real life".

As a health professional who has worked for many years with people, including artists who suffered from schizophrenic disorders, I can affirm that Margaret Helfgott's book rings only, too true.

As a painful and loving testament to her father Peter, her family and her brother David, Margaret Helfgott takes the reader through the maze of distortion and lies by "Shine's" director Scott Hicks, David's second wife Gillian, and the commercial exploitation of David Helfgott by post production interests. Despite the distorted need to invent blame, the profound reality of David Helfgott's illness will not be altered by the many lies in "Shine" about his late father Peter and his family.

I could not put Margaret Helfgott's book down, and highly recommend it to anyone who saw the fiction of "Shine", read the screenplay, or are just interested in understanding the impact of schizophrenic-type disorders on patients and families.

I have been stimulated by a number of your readers' reviews to once again see the video of "Shine" and re-read the book "Out of Tune".

A number of differences are outstanding. Whereas Margaret Helfgott interviews and quotes from many actual people who knew David in the past, identifying them by name, Scott Hicks "stands by his research" involving "friends, teachers, medical people and colleagues of David's" - however, he does not identify a single one of these people despite being challenged. Similarly, regarding Hick's claim that he was told that Shine's "portrait" of Peter Helfgott was actually "kind" and that there were far greater abuses committed by Peter which he chose not to include in the film. Who were these anonymous people who unstintingly fed Hicks his unconfirmed "facts"? If we did not believe Hicks totally, we might think this was innuendo in the extreme - in the best tradition of throwing mud so that some may stick.

What possible motive could Margaret have for defending her father to such lengths? Could it be Hick's claimed jealousy between the siblings, for which no shred of evidence exists in any of the writings.

Apropos the famed disclaimer at the end of the video "Shine" - it is microscopic! Unlike many biopics which honestly displayed their disclaimers legibly and clearly at the start of the film, Hick's disclaimer was illegible; despite the fact that living family members had NOT given permission for their real names to be used in the film. Once again, if one did not doubt Hicks' integrity one might really think that his advertised claims of "Shine" representing the true life story of David Helfgott, were honest.

Apart from attempting to correct the numerous distortions presented in "Shine", Margaret Helfgott, described on the book jacket as a music teacher, represents in "Out of Tune", a sole individual nobly fighting the forces of the film industry, its exploitation and its millions.

Anyone interested in truth and justice should read "Out of Tune".