by Kim Kelly
Grandma. I know this is chicory because she told me. Because this is exactly what she described: a little piece of sky stuck high on a spindly stick of straw.
I start walking across the track and up towards this straw-stuck flower now. One of the cows at the fence lets out an almighty moo as I go, and I laugh as I look back over my shoulder at her big dark eyes following me. And when I look ahead again, beyond the rusting old hayshed, as the track bends and slopes gently away, I can suddenly see chicory everywhere. This lane is lined on both sides with sprinklings of sky.
All of my grandmother’s stories tumble and spin through my heart at the sight. A tale of witches and fairies, foreigners and thieves; a distant crunch of wheels – going where? Her words flutter at the edges of my memory like butterfly wings, and I can’t catch them.
But I will.
Here.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Fact and fiction always play a merry game in my tales and Wild Chicory is no exception. I’ve thieved much of its truth and its heart from the lore of my Irish family – the Kellys and the O’Reillys – and I’ve pinched others from my husband, Dean’s family, the Brownlees and the O’Brees, especially from Aunty Yvonne. The rest is blarney.
This is a story spun from my admiration for the economic refugees who have contributed to Australia from all over the world, all you brave wanderers, the ordinary hard-working dreamers who have made and continue to make our country what it is: a colourful patchwork of beauty and bigotry both, all sewn together with love. And no small part of its intricately crazed design is Irish. Indeed, Australia remains proportionately the most Irish country outside Ireland.
But most of all, Wild Chicory is the story of how I came to be a writer myself, by the love of those who fed my soul their own stories when I was small, especially my grandmother, Lillian.
To those who have helped bring this story into the world, thankyou is never a large enough word. Lou Johnson, my inspiring publisher, and Alex Nahlous, my excellent editor, as well as all those comrades and readers who egged me on along the way: this book wouldn’t be here without you.
So, slàinte, friends – I hope you enjoyed the tale.
Find out more about Kim and her other books at www.theauthorpeople.com/kim-kelly/
Paper Daisies
www.theauthorpeople.com/paper-daisies
The Blue Mile
www.theauthorpeople.com/the-blue-mile
Black Diamonds
www.theauthorpeople.com/black-diamonds
This Red Earth
www.theauthorpeople.com/this-red-earth
Kim Kelly
Kim Kelly is the author of four novels, all lorikeet-coloured tales about Australia, its heritage and its people. An editor and literary consultant by trade, stories fill her everyday – and most nights, too.
Love is the fuel that fires her intellectual engine. In fact, she takes love so seriously she once donated a kidney to her husband to prove it, and also to save his life.
Originally from Sydney, Kim now lives in Millthorpe, a tiny gold-rush village in the wide, rolling hills of central western New South Wales, where the ghosts are mostly friendly and her grown sons regularly come home to graze.
Wild Chicory is her first novella.
www.theauthorpeople.com/kim-kelly
First published in 2015 by The Author People
PO Box 159, St Ives, NSW 2075 Australia
Copyright © Kim Kelly 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of The Author People.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author:
Kelly, Kim
Title:
Wild Chicory
ISBN:
9781925399042 (paperback)
ISBN:
9781925399059 (ebook)
Subject:
Australian Fiction
Australian immigration
Australian history
Sydney 1900’s
Irish Australian
Irish diaspora
Australian politics
Oral History
Novella
Design:
Alissa Dinallo
Cover and Author photo:
Douglas Frost
Printed by Lightning Source
