Goldie Alexander

Goldie Alexander is an Australian writer who has published more than 60 Australian novels. She was inspired to write of the history of her country and endeavors to inform all of her readers about what has happened to our Australia in the past 100 to 200 years as well as entertain and capture their interests in action, romance and mystery.

Goldie was born in Melbourne on the 6th of September 1936. As she was born in the 1930s – the era in which she experienced consisted of world war one, world war two, and the great depression, it was also close to the time of the convicts. These histories, especially, are what she enjoys to write about most.

Her parents, Ruth and Charles Alexander, spent good money to get Goldie educated at the presentation convent, Windsor and Mc Robertson girl’s High School before paying for her to study for an arts degree at Melbourne University. Their reason for paying for Goldie’s complete education was because they thought she had good potential to be a smart and highly regarded lady of society. Ruth and Charles were disappointed to see her waste her education by becoming an author as they expected much greater things from Goldie. However, as the years progressed they came to realize that Goldie's expertise in writing was good for her future, money and her family's name.

The themes and subjects Goldie bases her novels upon are usually fictional histories and diary entries along with some action and romance books suitable for young adults. She has written mostly novels although she has written poetry, short stories and plays. The genres Goldie has chosen to focus her stories on are: history, romance, action, and mystery.

Novels that Goldie has become famous for are as follows:: Mavis Road Medley, it is a time travel fiction exploring the world of Princes Hill and her parents' struggles to survive the Depression, My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove is a book that is a diary about a girl named Elizabeth Harvey and her fight to survive all the hardships of working as a convict at Rosehill, and also the book body and soul – a complicated romance set in the times of the great depression.

Although most of her books are fiction she believes that it is good to involve some real pieces of history so that the reader is informed of the time of the place in which the story was set. This information inspired other Australian authors to relate their books more to the history of Australia and really keep to the outback and rural settings of Australia rather than the cities and modern out look on this country.

Goldie Alexander’s first published young adult’s book was Mavis road medley and it was published in 1991 (when she was 55 years of age), however, Goldie has written a variety of different plays and poems in the early 1950s, which Australia enjoyed also. Some of Goldie Alexander’s achievements are: My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove - CBC Notable Book, Body and Soul - Brant Point Literary prize, Scholarship for the Romanian Writers Exchange Program September 2005, 2000 & 2001 Mary Grant Bruce Award for two long short stories and Eastern port Bay - Victorian Ministry of Arts Writing grant.

The difference between Goldie Alexander’s writing and the writing of most Australian authors today is extraordinary. Goldie gets the readers absorbed with her very first sentence, her books are more thorough than many other authors, as she puts much effort into researching the era in which the book is set and demonstrates this by the characters' behavior and theway they expres themselves She also involves an exciting twist of adventure or romance in her historic tales making for a most enjoyable reading experience.

Goldie has influenced other Australian authors by her style of novels, plays and poems. She has achieved this by her attention to detail, language and the exciting twists her stories always involve. Goldie is an inspirational author with an exceptional vocabulary and thousands of good ideas. Other authors strive to be as she is and include more of Australia’ history in their writing. To have this power and influence over other writers of today as well as readers makes for an incomparable author who is not to be forgotten.

Short story - looking glass river

I based my short story on the poem of looking glass river. This poem inspired me by the double meaning in the poets words, he displays a calm, beautiful river with entracing fish and everliving tranquility but beneath his words I have invisaged a sort of mystery, that every thing in the looking glass river is not as it seems, that beneath the water lillies and array of coloured fish there is an endless depth of blackness pulling in all that come near it. therefore although R.L stevenson's poetry is calm and beautiful there is an air of mystery beneath every line!

Looking-Glass River

“Mathew!” screamed mother’s panicked voice, it scared me how one voice so beautiful and delicate, the same one that sang us lullabies, which assured us that everything was going to be all right changed to that of worry and grief in less than a second. She couldn’t stop screaming, yelling his name over and over. It was futile, father already tried to jump in, to save him from the endless depths of blackness, but I knew from the second he fell that he was gone, no use crying or trying to revive him, he had been lost, never to return.

I had just woken up to the sound of Gracie’s excited voice, “Rose! Come on, get up, and get up. We have to prepare the picnic!” It was a warm, sunny day, one that made you guilty to waste it on sleeping in or staying inside, therefore my parents had planned a picnic, a nice family outing to take our minds off school and the stress of homework, a day to go out and relax and have fun. I slowly got out of bed and eased off my pyjamas. I decided to wear some knee- length, sturdy shorts, the new white T-shirt mother had brought me as well as some hiking boots and long socks. I went down stairs to find Gracie in her pink dress with small, white ballet flats. “Gracie! How are you going to go out like that? We will have to walk for hours to find the perfect picnic spot!” I said, eyeing her shoes incredulously.

“nuh – uh, mother said we only have to walk a short distance from the car and I think what Gracie’s wearing looks pretty!” exclaimed Mathew. Gracie and him were twins, both 6 years old, they did everything together, it was an odd day when one of them decided to go somewhere or do something different from the other. Mathew was standing there in his brown khaki shorts and a red top with a picture of Thomas the tank engine on it. “Now children, we don’t have time for fighting today, Rose you look fine now will you help your father find the keys whilst your siblings and I are going to prepare the basket of food.” With a squeal of delight Gracie and Mathew left the room and I set of to find father’s keys.

Sure enough the spot our picnic was held, as promised, was only a few minutes from the car and wasn’t it exquisite! As we emerged from the last of the wattle trees there lay an amazing meadow lined with an array of flowers, all a different colour to the next, deep blues, greens, soft pink, bright yellow, you name it and it was there that, however, this was not the first thing that caught my eye or the eyes of Gracie and Mathew. For in front of us lay a river with what seemed like hundreds of fish and water creatures as well as many magnificent water lilies floating on top you would have thought the image popped right out of the enchanted garden!

“Father?” Gracie called, “can we have our picnic near this river?”

“I don’t see why not!” Replied father as he ignored mother’s ramblings about the current and how we might catch a cold, and placed the picnic mat and basket a few feet from the lake.

Lunch was delicious, we ate a meal of chicken sandwich’s and a bowl of grapes and strawberries, the chicken was juicy and flavoursome and the strawberries soft and sweet, as soon as they touched your tongue the burst with flavour, but according to Gracie that just wasn’t enough, “can’t we have something sweet, I’ve eaten my sandwich and all of my fruit, please?” Mathew joined in, “Yes, please mother, we helped you pack the food!” Mother just rolled her eyes and looked through the basket, “now let’s see what we have,” upon further examination she said “ her we go I have three apples for you dears… no? How about some short bread and banana cake?!” as Matt and Gracie called out with delight mother pulled out a big loaf of banana bread and a dozen pieces of freshly baked short bread. “Thank you mother, this is really delicious!” I said after taking the first bite of my banana bread,
“your welcome my sweet, I’m glad you think so.” Replied mother while my siblings ran to the lake to ‘help feed the fish’, I ran over to join them, followed shortly after mother and father.

We sat there eating away the warm shortbread and scrumptious banana bread, if only that small piece of happiness lasted forever, if only that moment could be frozen in time, but such is not of world and the next series of events happened so quickly I could barely comprehend. Matt reached out to feed the fish his banana bread when the current pulled him in. Screams were everywhere, our brief moment of happiness shattered in to one of chaos, father dove in – determined to save his baby boy from the clutches of the monstrous river thought so calm and comforting before, but by that time Matt was already a good twenty meters in front of us, pushed by the currents. I could no longer see his head of blonde curls, no longer see his tortured face, he was pulled under, engulfed by the water. Just then Father reached him, he dived so far into the darkness but he couldn’t see a thing, no curls, no red top, no matt. He burst up out of the water gasping heavily only to go back down to continue his search, by now Gracie was yelling hysterically, I had to hold her back from leaping into the water to find him, mother was screaming his name over and over, for me, I just looked at the depths of the river incomprehensibly, watching father take another breath and go under, no one had accepted that Matt was gone, drowned in the depths of the rapids, taken prisoner by the river that as the seconds tick by, turns as black as night, and what for exactly? To give a small trout a meal of banana bread.

The storm

The storm
If you wake at midnight and hear a rumbling in the sky,
do not stay awake, for the storm will soon pass by,
The thunder’s like a growl, the lightning like a spark,
Just go back to sleep, not to be frightened by the dark.
The storm will soon pass, I promise you my dear,
Dream your happy dreams and do not lay in fear.
For when morning comes, and you wake up from your sleep,
the sky will be bright blue, the sun will slowly creep,
But for now my little darling, lay down your head and rest,
The storm will pass by morning and the sky will be at best,
Let the clouds pour out their tears, let the thunder make it’s last “clap”,
For I can feel the downpour softening , only dripping like a tap,
Now relax my sweetheart, and let your troubles mend,
For the storm has nearly finished, it is coming to it’s end.

Why does Sade feel guilty?

Sade felt terribly bad about lying when she arrived in London. The reasons for this are her family influence, and her guilt. Her family (expecially her father) is very opposed to lying and Sade feels extremely unsure about doing so because ever since she was an infant she was taught that lying is bad and she should always tell the truth...UNFINISHED

2nd paragrph of my short story

Just kill me quickly, I thought as I turned, with some effort, to see him slowly getting closer with a smug, triumphant smile on his face as if he could read my thoughts. "Now I have you, quite fast you are," he said, "So how should we go about this, hm?" he continued in a casual tone as if he were commenting on my clothing. "Please" I whispered, my voice cracking, "Not a chance" he chuckled as he pulled out a sharp knife with a long, thin blade. "where should we start?" he asked again,"oh, I know." and with a sly smile he started to slowly, carefully trace the outline of my lips with his knife, I could not yet feel the pain but I knew if I spoke a word, any small movement of my lips, he would intentionally "slip" and the blood would start to flow. Then it hit me! A plan. For it to work I would have to wait until he had finished with my lips,it will no doubt take all my effort not to cry out in pain but it was the only chance i had, the only way to preserve my life, and it was a chance I was willing to take.

1st paragraph of my short story

The wind whistled in my ear, past my face, the cold stung my fingers and sent a shiver up my spine, but I had to keep running. Blood was pouring from the pink, puckered scar on my forehead, my legs started shaking as even my hours of training couldn't prepare me for this long, hard run, forced to sprint away from my pursuer. I knew i couldn't go much longer, and just as the thought crossed my mind my knees buckled and i tumbled to the cold, hard ground. Oh no, I thought, He's got me, it's all over, my hours of running for nothing, I could hear his harsh breaths in the silent, frosty twilight, and his loud, steady footsteps, when my mind registered every step brought me closer to my death...

My sister Jodie - Jacqueline Wilson

I have read the book Mysister Jodie and I think it is one of the best books I have read in a while. The author, Jacqueline Wilson, has used a wide variety of despriptive words, similies and metaphores in each chapter. This story is about an 8 year old girl, Pearl, and her 13 year old sister, jodie, Having adventures at their new school melchester college. When they first found out about it Jodie was extremely dissapointed to be leaving her public school for a posh, new private school, but Pearl on the other hand couldn't be more eager to leave and get a proper education and have the children in her class respect her. The book explains their jorney through the first year of school, their new friends, the adventures, the old, mysterious headmaster and the big un expected tragety at the end. I very much enjoyed this book and I strongly reccomend it.