To begin

I started to read long before I can remember, I was a lucky child whose parents read voraciously and taught my brother and I to do the same. The four of us would sit in a room reading our library books and be in perfect accord.

In an ordinary working class Australian home of the 60s and 70s this was less than rare but not common. We read everything we could from the local library, we also had some books of our own.

I always found it difficult to read books or watch films from the two world wars but, at the same time, I became increasingly obsessed with domestic fiction about the wars and the times leading up to and following them. I've always had a rapport with the period which I can't quite explain.

Chick lit never did it for me though I read it. Classics were always a welcome read but they had the scent of the senior English classroom.

Early last month I came across Lyn's blog. I was introduced to a new genre that was being read around the world. Persephone came into my life via Lyn. I am the lucky child who grew up to middle age and skipped across the Internet and found herself at home.