Showing results by author "Sally Cook" in All Categories

This story tells of the magic of bushbirds and their habitats and involves bird mimicry and a ghost in a swampy gully in 1886. It is set in Victoria, Australia, with a focus on bird marvels, preservation, and endangered species. It is enhanced with bird calls and other atmospheric sounds and has an air of nature's magic.

This story tells of a massive plane explosion over the Tasman Sea and how three women survivors are affected over the next 15 years, supporting each other as they individually confront the effects of post traumatic stress disorder, stroke, aging, and autism.

This story is about a special boy's imagination and memory where he sees far more than everyday situations. His enthusiasm will take you on an amusing and enlightened journey as he enjoys his everyday adventures.

A man my mother considered her boyfriend during World War II was killed at point blank range escaping from Stalag Luft III. His name was Jack Francis Williams and he was shot by the Gestapo 12 days after participating in the Great Escape. This story examines the actual letters and cards he sent my mother, and with that, the building of an unexpected story.

This story tells of my pioneer colonist forebears and their arrival and settlement in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1838 after many difficult months at sea. They landed only a year after the proclamation of the city of Adelaide. At this time houses were made from reeds from the banks of Adelaide's Torrens River, the port of Adelaide was surrounded by swamp with the area referred to in those early days as "Mudholia" or "Dustholia".

I have survived a plane which caught on fire over the Tasman, have lived with a tribe in pre-Indenpendence Papua New Guinea. I have hugged a three-toed sloth in Colombia and worked for an antiquated group of newspapers in London where I covered murder trials, magistrates courts, and cinema and theatre reviews. I have been stuck in mud in Tayrona National Park in Colombia, accompanied by shrieking monkeys, a mirthful friend and guide.

The author is in court with a murderer, she is invited to drink tea from a urine filled pot, she covers theatre and cinema reviews as a London reporter, she works amid opulent carpets and heavy old typewriters with former criminals below in the printing works. She rides a Honda 90 motorbike across the English Fens on her way to cover stories in March, birthplace of the fabled March hare. She writes stories about a drunken turnip planter, a man named Jack Spratt, and another man who didn't travel as far as his own bees.

It's Not Your Fault delves into what can only be described as communication nightmares as a patient of the medical system. This true accounts show how fragile the trust between medical practitioner and patient can be and how it can be psychologically compromised bringing about negative effects. For example the author was already halfway through her first pregnancy when a well known and respected obstetrician/gynaecologist began treating her for infertility and the possibility of a dangerously big tumor. That large lump turned out to be a baby.

Ivy tells the story of a brave young woman who was awarded a special war commendation in signals during World War II in the Women's Arny Corp. She disarmed a German officer pointing a pistol in her face, survived strafing by a German bomber as she walked along a farm path as a Land Girl and lived in a garage with a dirt floor and cold water tap after migrating to Australia, She raised three young children after her husband dropped dead aged 39.

This story tells of a powerful older woman who has maintained her life through the war years and beyond via her love of reading and poetry. But 88-year-old Harriet is something of an enigma even to her daughters and granddaughter. Unusual events happen during this tale of love and loss even beyond Harriet's eventual death.

Melody's Radar tells the story of a downtrodden single mother who is sick of being pushed around and takes matters into her own hands. She tries to set a good example for her five-year-old daughter Amelia but the trouble is that Melody doesn't know when to stop. Her intensity becomes scary for anyone who is on her radar but her lack of personal understanding means she doesn't fully grasp the affect she is having, sometimes causing menacing ripples.

This story tells of a twenty-year-old girl who is house-sitting for six months in a seemingly calm and pleasant neighborhood where nothing peculiar seems to happen. That is, until Mandy hears screaming in the night, hears wailing and moaning during a heavy thunderstorm, feels an earth tremor beneath her feet and feels a man breathing over her in the night. And she has no one to confide in. She may be hypersensitive but does she catastrophize events or are they really happening and not very far below the surface?

Rhythm of Fire tells the story of 11-year-old twin boys who inadvertently kill an old woman. She dies of smoke inhalation in her rural shop crammed with Christmas decorations, A complex story unfolds leading to her identity and some unexpected developments following her tragic death.

Two young lovers have a number of adventures together, much to the approval of those around them. They watch movies together, dance together, share beach and park catch ups, frolicking like no others. But one evening one of them becomes stuck under an old building where not even the fire brigade nor the emergency services can get them out. But as the last light fades there is a solution.

Who's at the door tells the story of two dogs crashing through a beach wedding, of their rambunctious play on the sand, of another family dog knocking over a Christmas tree and eating all the chocolate decorations, of a guinea pig wearing sunglasses, of a rabbit wearing dolls clothing sitting in a pram and a Mexican walking fish blowing bubbles in a book case.. Not to mention a child and goldfish in the same outdoor bath.

Ask The Agent is an amusing look at some aspects of selling a house including when the wrong house is put up for sale, when the back of a bus is one way to see a dream home, when a kitchen leaks badly before an Open For Inspection and when a young couple render their house with mud, poo and glue.

Spiders sometimes create terror, admiration and fascination and in this account spiders are heroes and victims. They induce one arachnophobe to pull over in blind panic as one of their members crawls out from behind his car pedals while he is driving at speed along a country road. Another toys with a spider, bouncing it up and down on its web as if it were a yoyo. Spiders create strong reactions in many of us. This story takes us into their web of life.

Roadworks and train station overhauls are confusing this author who has driven into oncoming traffic, avoided a kangaroo crossing a new roadwork barrier, got lost and couldn't find her train station carpark and who believes her amygdala must be growing as she negotiates new roundabouts, traffic lights, new road hazards and witches' hats. Follow her journey.....

The author has a bad bout of insomnia and tries all sorts of ways to overcome it through a varying list of remedies. She knows that kangaroos are grazing on dewy grass just over the road and that she has a blanket of brilliant stars above her house but these comforting images do nothing to take her into sleepy oblivion. In this humorous account she recalls her miserable journey.

Two near death experiences in one lifetime both involving loud, unexpected bangs. The author survived both a car collision and a plane catching fire and recounts the events with dramatic sound effects and clear recall.