'This is where I begin. This blank page draws me nearer to you, the day sweltering, my courage quickens, the curtains billowing and the punkah swaying, the punkah rattling as I sit at my writing bureau ... it is a soothing sound.' Mina, a writer, is navigating her place in the world, balancing creativity, academia, her sexuality and the expectation that a wife and mother abandons herself for others. For her, like so many women of mixed ancestry, it is too easy to be erased. But her fire and intellect refuse to bow. She discovers 'the dark, adorable' Eurasian woman Daisy Simmons, whom Peter Walsh plans to marry in Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. Daisy disappeared from Woolf's pages, her story unfinished - never given a voice in the novel, nor a footnote in any of the admiring Woolf scholarship that followed. While dealing with the remains of another life, Mina decides to write Daisy's story. Travelling from Australia to England, India and China, freelancing and researching, she has to navigate cultural and race barriers, trying hard not to look back or flinch at the personal cost. Like Woolf, her writing both sustains and overwhelms her. But in releasing Daisy from her fictional destiny, Mina finds the stubbornness and strength to also break free. 'An elegant meditation on race, class and privilege ... Daisy and Woolf not only brings us stories of brave, clever women in an eloquent way, it also leaves questions for us readers to think of our own trajectory of reading and influences' ArtsHub 'Cahill writes beautifully ... Daisy and Woolf is a novel about reclamation. Highlighting the inadvertent racism inherent in much of the classical literary canon, it reinforces the the importance of Own Voices writing, and shines a light on the lives of people of colour that cannot be understood or expressed without their input' The Age 'an impressive, ambitious postmodern novel that raises questions around race, class, feminism, Empire, the post-colonial voice and so much more ... a fascinating work, it's rare to see something of its kind in the Australian literary landscape' Readings PRAISE FOR MICHELLE CAHILL: 'Her deftness and linguistic grace masks her purpose, till she reveals a shocking glimpse of the price that art can exact' - HILARY MANTEL 'Traverses centuries, cultures and continents to deftly explore how race, gender and class have the power to shape a narrative' - MAXINE BENEBA CLARKE 'A dauntless novel of empire, and its ever-replicating costs. There are echoes of Michael Ondaatje in this novel's lush and observant prose-craft. This is fiction at its most human and humane' - BEEJAY SILCOX 'In luminous prose, she has brought an old world back to life. Her background as a poet is clear in her evocative and detailed descriptions of colonial India. Daisy's voice is perfectly tuned and her story is compelling' - MELANIE CHENG 'At once critically acute and narratively rich, Daisy and Woolf shows us that there are always new ways to read the past in order to understand the present' - PATRICK FLANERY 'Michelle Cahill deploys poetry and history in the most powerful manner possible to write back to Virginia Woolf, and expose the colonial gaze that did not (does not) acknowledge the full humanity of others. This novel will be to Mrs Dalloway what Wide Sargasso Sea was to Jane Eyre' - MEENA KANDASAMY

Daisy and Woolf

Literature & Fiction

Cahill, Michelle

Literary

Hachette Australia

"In 1945 my father lost two brothers. In 2012 I found them."--Michelle Cahill... After retiring from Disneyland Resort in 2010, Michelle Cahill looked forward to a slow-paced retirement exploring the arts. She never expected the fantasy of Disney would collide with the reality of World War II and send her down an exciting path. In 2012, Michelle and her cousins found several hundred pages of letters flier uncles Tom and Jack, their fathers’ brothers, wrote to their mother during the war. The cousins never knew these boys—both were killed on bombing missions in Europe a few weeks apart near the end of the war. The discovery of these letters, and hundreds of old photos found with them, was a head-spinner Michelle never could have imagined, but eagerly welcomed. She followed a fascinating journey to meet these charming new men in her life who were previously only silent portraits. Michelle’s first book, "DEAR MOM, A Family Finds Its Past in World War II Letters Home" unravels for her generation the obscurity of Tom and Jack in a time capsule of the 1940s.

Dear Mom: A Family Finds Its Past in World War II Letters Home

History

Military

Pleasant Street Publishers

She is a hunter of women brown eyes dilated, I watch her gracefully pouring tea. She smells of the chase, her blood-smeared nails assault you in the afternoon heat.

The Accidental Cage

Poetry

Interactive Publications

Suitable for readers of all ages, kid-friendly, uplifting "Tail Wags and Purrs" showcases Michelle Cahill's experiences volunteering at a local animal shelter for over 20 years. Always an animal lover, she began advocating for them a couple decades into her forty-year Disneyland career. She often took breaks to visit the Park's animals backstage, especially the horses. One of her happiest memories is watching with fascination as ranch hands carefully braided ribbons through a horse’s mane before its appearance in a ceremony at Sleeping Beauty Castle. Having no pets of her own at that time, she began volunteering with a progressive municipal shelter near her home, a few miles south of Los Angeles, inland off the Pacific Coast. She soon realized how little she knew about animal welfare and was drawn to their plight and the critical role of humans in their lives. One thing became clear: When animals end up homeless, it is usually because of a human failure, not a pet failure. Over the years, she made notes about some of her dog and cat experiences and turned those notes into story drafts. Recently she stumbled upon those drafts stuffed in a drawer and compiled them into "Tail Wags and Purrs." Also included are seven first-person adoption stories written by friends and family. It is Michelle's hope that this entertaining, heartwarming, and educational book will encourage readers to adopt from, volunteer at, or donate to a shelter or rescue organization. At the very least, they will be better informed about how homeless animals are cared for communally and successfully rehomed. Every story is true. Interwoven they illustrate how homeless animals thrive when people with various abilities, resources, and methodologies work toward the same goal--the "it takes a village approach."

Tail Wags and Purrs: Happy Pet Adoption Stories

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Pets & Animal Care

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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Books by Cahill, Michelle