David Hunt

And yet, of course, yes.

Yes.

But she also can stand up and is still instantly recognisable as a lady when she greets a visitor at the door.

So she still has retained this class training.

Yes, and you're right, that prize is such a gift to the nation.

I would say the language is sometimes surprising and wonderful, and I'm just thinking of the Maswat's Awfully Untuned Piano, which she describes as that demented piano, which I just, some of the expressions just leapt out.

I think her characters are...

quickly drawn but deep and you feel very, very close to them in a real sense.

You know them very quickly.

I liked that.

But yes, I think, Maggie, that emerging and unashamed love of Australia and luxuriating in the natural world is really one of the most startling parts of it.

And I loved it for that.

Yeah, wonderful to have you both along and what a great meal we have shared with these two books indeed.

And we learn she's a distant relative of Dorothea McKellar, one of the great Australian poets.

David Hunt, historian, writer, TV and podcast host.

His books include Gert, True Gert, which are both unauthorised histories of Australia, as well as writing for children.

His next book is Gert Nation.

Watch out.

Now, next week, the bookshelf returns and we're reading Imbinini's The Spill, which is actually about a car having an accident, the spill, get it, and Victoria Hannan's Kokomo and Stephen Conti's The Tolstoy Estate.

So don't miss that.