Official Announcement - Gifts Of The Peramangk - Available for Pre-Order.

Hambledown Road Imprints, in partnership with Central Avenue Publishing are pleased to announce "Gifts Of The Peramangk" by Australian author Dean Mayes will be released internationally on October 26th 2012. 

Ahead of the release date, Dean has officially opened a secure on-line portal here at his official website, where readers can pre-order the novel both in signed print and digital formats. The print edition price includes shipping door to door, will be individually numbered by the author and will include a limited edition lobby card/bookmark as a keep sake.

Please refer to the left side-bar adjacent for purchasing options.

Readers can also pre-order the novel by forwarding a cheque or money order, made out to Dean Mayes, for the required amount (either print or digital) to:

Dean Mayes
44 Rose Street
MILE END, SA, 5031.
Australia.

For bulk orders, please contact Dean at Hambledown Road Imprints to discuss your individual requirements and shipping options.

Gifts Of The Peramangk marks the second collaboration between author Dean Mayes and Central Avenue Publishing following Dean’s highly successful 2010 debut “The Hambledown Dream”. Described as a sprawling family saga, Gifts Of The Peramangk takes place across two time periods, in the South Australian outback and the suburban fringe of Adelaide. 

In 1950s Australia, during the height of the divisive White Australia Policy, Virginia, a young Aboriginal girl is taken from her home and family and put to work on an isolated, outback station, in the cruellest of conditions. Her only solace: the violin, taught to her in secret by a kind-hearted white woman - the wife of the abusive station owner. However, Virginia's prodigious musical gift cannot save her from years of hardship, abuse, and racism.

Decades later, her eight year old granddaughter, Ruby, plays the violin with a passion Virginia once possessed. Amidst abject poverty, domestic violence and social dysfunction, Ruby escapes her circumstance through her practice, with her grandmother's frail, guiding hand. Ruby’s zeal attracts the attention of an enigmatic music professor, and with his help, Ruby embarks on an incredible journey of musical discovery that will culminate in a once in a life time chance for a brighter future. But with two cultural worlds colliding, her gift and her ambition will be threatened by deeply ingrained distrust, family jealousies and tragic secrets that will define her very identity.

DFA.

Gifts Of The Peramangk - Launch News & Final Cover Art.

Well, I am pleased to be able to let you all know today that my new novel "Gifts Of The Peramangk" is really, really close to launching. 

I know that it has seemed like forever in coming but I had a really great meeting with my publisher last Friday and we've bedded down a release time table and a tentative date. I'm gonna tease you a little more here though because we have yet to have the manuscript put through its final edit and proof reading but I will say this - "Gifts Of The Peramangk" will be on the shelves by the end of October.

(*Arrgghh* - now the pressure is really on!!)

Editing the novel has been an arduous process but an equally rewarding one. I received the round three edits back early last week and was able to devote significant attention over the course of the week to conducting round four and, based on the suggestions of my editing team, I've tightened the prose significantly, jettisoned some redundant sentencing and I've expanded a couple of scenes that add more impact to the back story of one of the central characters. 

Now, in all of this excitement, I really want to be able to spew forth everything about the novel, but that would of course be counter productive and blunt the impact of the release. However, I can reveal to you today, the final cover art for the novel which was ticked off by the team late last week. Already. I've had some positive feedback and one or two suggestions, and I'd certainly welcome any additional feedback going forward. Someone might come up with a nugget of genius that none of us even considered before now. 

There's actually a really interesting story behind the cover art which I'll be revealing in a future post. But for now, here it is. 

Keep an eye out here over the coming weeks for a steady stream of updates and news - and the launch of my on-line store where readers can pre-order the novel in both signed print and digital formats - as we approach publication. 

DFA.

Music The Peramangk Brought To Me.

Imagine...a young girl, born of poverty, of sorrow. Her life is one of struggle, of pain. She lives with little thought to tomorrow. Yet she smiles - for she has a gift. A special gift. And on a cold and wintry night, she will raise up her violin and look out from a stage and she will play this hymn. 

Will this gift set her free?

Close your eyes...

DFA.