Spend an evening with playwright, screenwriter and novelist, Debra Oswald. Debra is a two-time winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award and author of four adult novels (including the bestselling The Family Doctor) and multiple children’s books.
Debra was also the creator/head writer of the first five seasons of the successful TV series, Offspring, and her works have been studied in the HSC syllabus for many years.
This exciting in-conversation event will showcase Debra's latest book, One Hundred Years of Betty - a historical fiction novel exploring themes of migration, social upheaval, women’s liberation and more.
Bookings are essential. Phone the library on 6333 6281 to secure a seat.
Copies of the book will be for sale on the night from BooksPlus.
About the book
Meet Betty: storyteller, feminist, eternally curious and phenomenally old. On the eve of her hundredth birthday party, Betty tells us her story.
Born into poverty in pre-war London, and growing up fast during the Blitz, Betty grabs the chance at a bigger life by migrating to Australia. On board the SS Asturias she meets three people who will influence the course of her life - Pearl, a good-hearted party girl; Athena, a Greek woman on her way to marry a man she has never met; and Leo, a German Jew who lost his family in the war.
In Sydney, Betty is making ends meet as a waitress at the famous Trocadero dance hall when she stumbles into a rushed courtship with Donald, a wealthy businessman, and dedicates herself to being the ideal 1950s suburban housewife. But life has other plans for Betty, and soon she must find a way to do more than survive.
Set against a century of world events and social upheavals, Betty takes us to the frontlines of the anti-war protests and the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, to the AIDS crisis during the 1980s, to Mexico and eventually becomes a TV screenwriter. Even in her nineties, Betty is still passionately engaged with the world, still surprising us.
One Hundred Years of Betty is the saga of a strong, intelligent woman born too early in time to make the most of her talents without having to fight for everything. It's about the defining force of motherhood, the family we make, and how the determination to live to the hilt, with all the joy and sorrow that entails, can lead to a life beyond one's wildest imaginings.
