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The
“reflections” in this volume were inspired by the author’s acquisition of a
house in the splendid isolation of a remote village surrounded by a scenic
reserve. In Waipori Falls Village, about an hour's drive from Dunedin, in
South Island, New Zealand, the author and his old friend and colleague Dr
Garrett Evans could reflect upon life, on their experiences in different
parts of the world where they had lived. This is followed by the author’s
reflections back in Clashnessie, his home in the Highlands of Scotland,
followed by his reflections during the summer of 2008, which he spent at his
home in Nova Scotia. The book, which encompasses the three locales,
constitutes, in effect, a “trilocation” portmanteau! All the reflections,
wherever they are set, were inspired by his time in Waipori, which began the
whole process.
Also included are a
number of articles by John Kelly, being memories of the early days in
Waipori Falls Village, at the time when the hydro-electric scheme was being
constructed in the valley.
From the back page:
Perched on a steep, wooded hillside about 60km
west of Dunedin, in a South Island rainforest, New Zealand, is a village
called Waipori Falls Village. The “reflections” in this volume were inspired
by my acquisition of a house, some three years ago, in the splendid
isolation of this remote village surrounded by a scenic reserve. Perhaps
that’s why I was there – to rediscover my balance, to get things into
perspective, and these reflections have this as their main purpose. “As iron
sharpeneth iron,” I said to my old friend Garrett, quoting from Proverbs.
There in Waipori we could reflect upon life, on our experiences in different
parts of the world where we have lived, restoring balance, finding our way
again after so much wandering through the world. After our combined Waipori
reflections, there are my reflections back in Clashnessie, my home in the
Highlands of Scotland, followed by my reflections during the summer of 2008,
which I spent at my home in Nova Scotia. The book, which encompasses the
three locales, constitutes, in effect, a “trilocation” portmanteau! All the
reflections, wherever they are set, have been inspired, one might say, by my
time in Waipori, which began the whole process.—Charles Muller.
Extract from the Acknowledgements:
It is a great privilege, also, to have received the contributions from John
Kelly and Frank Cordemans about Waipori Falls Village in the early days,
when it was the accommodation base for the power stations, for which the
village was originally built. Their early memories have been included as
Appendices to this volume and will certainly add to the book’s value, not
just as a source of entertainment but as a valuable record of history.
Cover photographs by the author: Autumn
sunset, Upper Port La Tour, Nova Scotia;
Lake Mahinerangi, Waipori; and rainbow over Clashnessie bay.
About the author
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| The author
at the launch of Winston Churchill by his Personal Secretary,
at the Churchill Museum,
Cabinet
War Rooms in Whitehall, in February 2008 |
Charles Humphrey
Muller, MA (Wales), PhD (London), DLitt (OFS), DEd (SA), was Professor and
Head of the Department of English at the University of the North in South
Africa for ten years, and Senior Lecturer in English at the University of
South Africa before that. He is the author of numerous academic textbooks
and literary studies published by Oxford University Press and McGraw-Hill,
and was editor of Unisa English Studies
and Communiqué, literary journals of
the University of South Africa and the University of the North. In 1988 he
left his academic career to move to Scotland where he bought a small hotel -
the Kenmore Bank Hotel in Jedburgh, fifty miles south of Edinburgh - to
devote more time to creative writing. He has since sold the hotel and
written a number of novels (A Twist in
Time, The Cage and the Cross, Wheel of Fortune, Continental Drift),
and with his wife Joanne has co-authored two novels (Rapture
at Sea and Spirit of Ecstasy
by ‘Carolyn Charles’). He wrote the inspirational work
Have Anything You Really Really Want
, and served as editor for his wife’s ‘self-help’ book
So You Want to Buy a Small Hotel! He
also edited a collection of testimonies titled
Touched by God.
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