Book of the day: A Private Life - fragments, memories, friends by Michael Kirby
She was tall and spare. She was friendly enough but, underneath that sweet exterior, was a voice of cold com-mand. It was not to be messed with. She needed that voice to keep control over the thirty or so boys and girls—five year olds—in her charge. She was Mrs Church: my first teacher. Her specialities were plasticine and the piano. Anything to keep our young minds occupied and out of mischief.
Like many members of my family, Mrs Church was a Celt. She wore the badge of that warrior people, as two of my siblings—Donald and Diana—were to do. Red hair. And freckles. Lots of freckles, right up her arms. ‘Don’t go out in the sun, Donald,’ we would say. ‘Or you’ll get freckles like Mrs Church.’ Donald’s eyes would fill with unwept tears, making his pale unfreckled skin around his eyes redder than ever. Getting as many freckles as Mrs Church was definitely not the way to go.
Cover blurb
Michael Kirby is one of Australia’s most admired public figures. At a time of spin and obfuscation, he speaks out passionately and straightforwardly on the issues that are important to him. Even those who disagree with him have been moved by the courage required of him to come out as a high-profile gay man, which at times has caused him to be subjected to the most outrageous assaults on his character.
This is a collection of reminiscences in which we can discover the private Michael Kirby. It allows the public figure speak in his own voice, without any intermediary. He opens up as never before about his early life, about being gay, about his forty-two year relationship with Johan van Vloten, about his religious beliefs and even about his youthful infatuation with James Dean, which sent him on a sentimental journey to Dean’s home town in the year 2000, an adventure he here wryly recalls.
Beautifully written, reflective and generous, in that warm and gently self-deprecating voice that is so characteristic of him, this is a memoir that Michael Kirby’s many admirers have been waiting for.
