A Distant Shore

“I was nineteen the first time I saw Katerina. It was during the hot summer of 1968; she was seventeen years old. I doubt if she even noticed me, for this was at a crowded New Year’s Eve party, and my reticence kept it a distant admiration. Besides, she was in love with someone else.”

So begins A Distant Shore. A number of people fall in love with Katerina (who becomes better known as Kate), many more become her friends. She grows up from a bewildered and unhappy six year old Greek migrant to become an attractive and vivacious Aussie girl who lives on Sydney’s northern beaches, takes part in the widespread protests of the Vietnam war years, and later gives up a highly paid job in a law firm to work with a lawyer attempting to assist refugees. The span of the story covers some turbulent periods in Australia, from the late nineteen-fifties to the year 2004.

The day I saw a photograph in The Sydney Morning Herald of three young girls who had drowned when an Indonesian Fishing Boat sank was the day I felt compelled to write this novel. The boat was called the SIEV X, and over three hundred people died, a hundred and fifty of whom were children.

Our country was split on the subject of boat people and the treatment of refugees, and politicians on both sides took populist positions. Humanity occupied second place to electoral advantage.

Quotes from some reviews.

"This is an engrossing story and, implicitly, a deeply felt statement of belief by Yeldham during one of the most divisive periods in Australian history."

Warren Brewer

"A wonderful Australian story, containing many familiar historical touchstones to evoke personal memories for the reader, A Distant Shore is as good as anything to come from Yeldham's pen to date. Do yourself a favour and set some time aside to read it - but warn family and friends when doing so, because once begun, you'll likely not want to stop until Kate's story reaches its conclusion."

Kerry Hennigan