Love and music

I have just finished reading Sara Hardy's Love and Music, a brilliant biography about Dame Joan Hammond .

Joan was a famous Australian opera singer who has been sadly forgotten and over shadowed by the other Dame Joan, Sullivan that is, who followed her.

Sara's biography tells a brilliant tale of a woman who could have been great as a world champion golfer but instead she choose singing and her struggles to achieve vocal quality and success in a time when Australia had no opera companies and training had to be achieved overseas (though have things really changed in 2009?) makes the book a thrilling read.

Its also a fabulous tale of a long and loving friendship between three women in a time when such relationships were hidden from sight.

Sara is a personal friend of mine and I am lucky to be able to use her monologues when I go to the occassional soiree. Her dialogue has ensured that my 'party pieces' are always well received and successful.