Giveaway - Light and Shadow by Candida Baker
In Light and Shadow, Candida Baker blends fact and fiction in a poignant novel narrated by Rosa Maria de Martinez - Florado’s imagined daughter - who sets out to uncover the truth of her family’s past. Her search takes her from Mexico to the United States, and finally to Australia’s Snowy Mountains, where horses and landscape offer solace and connection.
About Light and Shadow
When the world-famous photographer Eadweard Muybridge shot dead his wife’s lover and was acquitted of murder on the grounds of ‘justifiable homicide’, it was one of the greatest scandals of the 19th century. Light and Shadow is a rich reimagining of this true story and its repercussions.
Celebrated writer, journalist, editor and horse lover Candida Baker bases her innovative and riveting new novel on Muybridge, whose groundbreaking photos of horses in motion first caught her attention. Baker then took a creative leap to imagine the life and times of Muybridge’s fictional granddaughter Rosa, in order to explore questions of identity and belonging, women’s power and how the past impacts the present.
In the novel, Rosa, now 80 years old, lives in the Snowy Mountain region of Victoria, having come to Australia 45 years before. She has decided to write the story of her family, as she believes it may have occurred, and weaves the narrative of her life around that of Eadweard, her probable grandfather, her grandmother Flora and Flora’s lover Harry – also potentially Rosa's grandfather. Through her writing Rosa discovers that she must make peace with her past, known and unknown. Despite her shadowy ancestry, Rosa carries within her the rich tapestry of a life well lived – in the light, and in the shadow.
About Candid Baker
Candida Baker has had numerous books published in her long career as a writer, including the seminal Yacker - Australian Writers Talk About Their Work series, published over a ten-year period. Candida is the author of two previous novels, Women & Horses (1992) and The Hidden (2000), as well as a book of short stories, The Powerful Owl (1994). Her latest book, The Heart of a Horse, was published in 2021. Candy has also written three children's books. In the past decade, as well as working on Light and Shadow, she’s also had her poetry published both in Australia and internationally.
As well as her creative work Candy has also always had horses in her life, and is currently president of Equus Alliance, a small rescue charity she founded in 2017 after two years running Australia's largest horse charity, Save a Horse Australia. She’s a qualified Equine Facilitated Learning practitioner and has a small herd of horses she uses for therapeutic 'play' work with clients, with conditions such as depression, anxiety, OCD and PTSD.
Candy hasn’t let age (70), or two hip replacements, slow her down from doing the things she loves. And she’s recently taken up icy plunges in the freezing creeks around Armidale, NSW, where she now lives – just for fun.
How To Enter:
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5 winners will be drawn via Random.org
Contest ends 10 December at 5pm AEDST. Good luck!
The contest is limited to Australian and New Zealand readers only.