First, I want to say a word about the wildfire disaster in Australia. With more than 1,800 homes lost and as many as 200 people dead I went to see about how to make a donation — but without much luck. If anybody in Australia has information about this — is there an Australian RedCross, for example? Please post in the comments.
In the meantime, I had a question from Meredith:
So, here’s my stupid question of the day – has Pajama Girls been published in Australia yet? I’ve searched for it all over the place (both here and in Brisbane) and have met with blank looks and offers to order it from the States… I’m happy to order it from the US if I need to, but I do like to support the Australian industry where possible.
Pyjama Girls in Australia
Not a stupid question. In fact, I should have posted about this long ago. The novel did come out in Australia and is still available, but it may be difficult to find for a couple reasons:
- In the U.S. this novel came out under Rosina Lippi; in Australia you’ll find it under Sara Donati.
- In the U.S. the title is The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square; in Australia the spelling is different: The Pyjama Girls of Lambert Square.
- It may be listed under The Pyjama Sisters of Lambert Square.
This is how number three came to pass:
Random House Australia was getting the book ready for publication. As a part of the process they sent me a mockup of the cover, which is very visually appealing but has little to do with the story. However, that wasn’t the real problem. Somehow, somewhere along the line, the title got changed to The Pyjama Sisters of Lambert Square. The mockup of the cover was the first I knew of that. I pointed it out to my agent, and she got in touch with Australia, pronto. Unfortunately, by that time a lot of promotional material had already gone out.
They did their best to fix the problem but the confusion remains in many places. You’ll note that on this Australian bookstore page Pyjama Girls and Pyjama Sisters are both used.
The Random House Australia webpage for Pyjama Girls also has a long list of bookstores (brick-n-mortar and online) where the book is available.
So thanks to Meredith for raising the subject.
You've stumbled across my official website and landed on the front page of my weblog.
I don’t recall any beach walking in the book, but it has been a while since I read it. That’s one the things that annoy me as a reader, the cover not accurately reflecting the book.
..what can I say, over 500 people dead, heartbreaking.
..er 200
Serendipity has details on donating – and if you are into crafts she has a great competition going for donors too:
http://passionfruit.typepad.com/serendipity/2009/02/how-high-can-we-go.html
The Australian Red Cross website, where you can make secure online donations, is http://redcross.org.au
The devastation is beyond belief. I cannot watch the telly news at the moment, it just hurts too much. I’m so proud that New Zealand has donated over a million dollars so far. Did you know 1 in 5 people who have lost their homes in the fires were not insured? *heart breaks a little more*
I’m looking forward to reading this one!
Meredith, try Boomerang Books. They are an Aussie company and they also donate a portion of the profits to charities.
One of the problems why it may be hard to find at the moment is that the book is being rereleased in a couple of weeks, and so it might be able to find it a bit easier after that.
The link to Boomerang Books is:
http://books.boomerangbooks.com/featuredbook1.asp?StoreUrl=boomerang&bookid=9781863256193&db=au
Hi,
I live in Australia, and I dreamt about being in a bushfire last night.
Several ways to help are listed here: http://cleverthings.livejournal.com/717.html
As the end of the article says: “Please help if you can but if not, spread the word.”
I am so glad you are doing that, just by mentioning this in your blog, which I know has a lot of readers.
Thank you.
-Anne Marie.
Thanks for clearing it up, Rosina – much appreciated. And thanks to Marg for the link; I’ll check that out this week.
Re: the bushfires…I am throwing five or ten bucks into every collection hat and tin that I pass, but I’m saving my big donation to make directly to one of the schools that were lost. While the infrastructure will be rebuilt, there will be resources that schools will struggle to replace for the next few years. I figure a couple of hundred dollars towards new library books (for example) will be appreciated. It’s a donation that can’t be made for another 12 months or so, though.
Having lived through a busfire of similar magnitude, I’ve come to realise how very, very lucky we were to lose five lives here instead of the hundreds they’ve lost in Victoria.
Hello Meredith
I have seen the book in Big W and Borders in Brisbane if this helps. It is the exact cover and title that Rosina listed above.
Gina
@wellreadkitty:
Thank you so much for that link. I’ll hightail it over there pronto.
Thank you so much, Rosina for your generosity to the victims of the Victorian bushfires. If you want any information about the bushfires, The Age online is a good website. The Age is one of the leading newspapers in Victoria. It can be seen here http://www.theage.com.au
The bushfires have been absolutely horrible and I can’t imagine how bad it’s been for those closely affected. The Red Cross is the main centre for donations and this is the page that should take you straight there – http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm
The last I heard 181 people had died, 500 people badly injured, 7000 homeless, 1834 homes destroyed. The tragic thing is at the other end of the country they’re flooded! 379,725 sq mi of flood waters – some towns will be cut off for months……if only some of it could be sent to Victoria.
Meredith, I managed to get The Pyjama Girls of Lambert Square from Dymocks in Brisbane very shortly after it was first published. It had a section to itself in the new books display.
I don’t know what to say about the fires, the pictures in the newspapers are the most eloquent for me. My sister lives in Melbourne and says that the smoke is still hanging over the city. The death toll has stopped being updated officially because of the difficulty in sifting ash from human bodies from ash in general. Someone in my mother’s bookclub has had to give blood for DNA so that they can try and identify her son’s body, if they find his car (he had gone away to Healesville for a weekend with his girlfriend). The devastation is too great to take in as a whole, I seem to be able to process it only in chunks, in individual stories.
I’m from New Zealand and here there is a 0900 number that you can ring and make a $20 donation to the red cross for the bash fires in ozzy
Yes one end of Australia is scorched and the other is in flood. It’s a shame that they couldn’t construct a super pipe from Queensland down to Victoria. The fires that hit Bendigo came so quickly that most people barely got warning let alone told to evacuate. I still can’t believe that the fire came within 2 kms of the Central Business District and my house. I went with a friend to help her get her pets out of her house and from her verandah we could see fire up the hill and fire down the hill. I can say I have never been so scared in all my life. At the end of the day though my house and my family survived. A man not far from me lost his life and about 60 houses were lost in our area including one belonging to a family I know. They remain positive though as they have insurance to replace possessions and they escaped with their lives. It is the many people who had to choose between paying insurance or paying their mortgage that are in serious trouble. And a couple of towns were completely wiped out, losing both residents and houses. I noticed a couple of earlier posts with details on how to donate money to help and many businesses are also chipping in with goods for a monster auction. I work for the local newspaper and today we had a family come in who had lost everything and they still gave a donation to the bushfire appeal. If any of you can afford it, please give a donation. It will be deeply appreciated my those in need.
Rosina got a nice mention over on Diana Gabaldon’s blog about the Wilderness series. Poisoned Pen recommended it as a series to read while waiting on her next Outlander novel.
Visit http://www.redcross.org.au
Phone 1800 811 700
Any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch
By direct deposit to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund – BSB 082-001, Account number 860-046-797