A Fortunate Life...
A number of years ago I read a book called “ A Fortunate Life ” by A.B. Facey and which is considered an Australian literary classic, selling over a million copies. I guess the fact that A.B. didn't learn to read and write until after his return from the Great War at the ripe old age of 20 years has a lot to do with it, but for me as I read his uncomplicated and straightforward tome it was more than that. It was his underlying acceptance of his lot in life, he didn't complain about his life’s hardships or his struggles but rather how lucky he was to have lived such a wonderfully rich and amazing life. The book itself was published shortly before his death in 1982 and was written at the urgings of his kids, with the entire manuscript being written in longhand…okay, that in it is a feat unto itself. Clearly, it was the culmination of many years of work; of first remembering the stories but then to weave them into a s...