Bernadette Brennan

But that's because it's Western Australia.

Yeah, the place where the sun dies.

Speaking of sunsets, I did find one little irony in this, and that is that Frank and Sullivan are both into new poetry and

And Sullivan in particular is obsessed with the First World War poets, you know, Rosenberg and Sassoon and Owen.

And he's very, you know, very much about that freshness of witness and internal thought and rhyming's just completely out.

They both think that's dreadful.

And nostalgia.

Sullivan in particular doesn't like nostalgia.

And yet, this is actually...

Deeply nostalgic, this book, at its heart, deeply sentimental, still true and still witnessing the brutality of life.

But I thought it was ironic because it's so sweet, this book.

But are you just left as... Yeah, and Ida's music drawing the neighbours to their fences as they hear it wafting through the windows of the Golden Age and the policemen turning up at the concert that Ida's doing for fundraising.

Yeah, sitting in the front row, I...

It is a little kind of rosy, a view of art.

Maggie, you just nailed it.

You just nailed it.

That's exactly how I feel about her after having just read this book, you know, just over the weekend and watched the film again and being totally frustrated with her and the character she has created, Sabella Melvin.

It's frustrating, but I can't let it go.

I actually feel a little bit obsessed and even possessed by her.

She's trapped, actually.