{"id":7673,"date":"2011-05-18T16:09:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T05:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=7673"},"modified":"2011-05-18T00:07:46","modified_gmt":"2011-05-17T13:07:46","slug":"free-too-by-c-thiele","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2011\/05\/18\/free-too-by-c-thiele\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Free Too’ by C Thiele"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am speaking at a 200 Year Celebration of Tasmania’s first chaplain, the Reverend Robert Knopwood<\/a>, at Prince’s Square\u00a0in Launceston at 2pm Saturday. I found Chris Thiele’s historical novel about early Tasmania and in which the Chaplain Knopwood makes an appearance or two provided excellent orientation. I gladly accepted Chris’ invitation to write the following\u00a0PREFACE\u00a0 to ‘F<\/span>REE TOO\u2019, <\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Thiele spins a good yarn. \u2018Free Too\u2019 is no exception.<\/p>\n

His trade mark qualities, passion and enthusiasm, surge through the characters, their conversations, their contexts. Life in all its rawness and splendor infuse the story line. Raw gallow scenes with gibbet, gore, guts (but little glory!) accompanied by soldiers, convicts, weeping family and Tasmania\u2019s peerless Reverend \u2018Bobby\u2019 Knopwood. Now there\u2019s a cast! And Chris does them proud. Oh, I forgot- the maggots, the anxious hangman with his \u201cWill the drop be right?\u201d, and the splendor of kindness, courage, resilience, forgiveness and love.<\/p>\n

What are the ingredients of a good story? Human drama: \u2018Normality\u2019 shattered by evil, suffering, struggle, failure, injustice, redemption, forgiveness and healing, set amongst the frailty of poor decisions, ignorance and innocence, betrayal – and the courage and commitment of true, tough loving that sacrifices self-interest for the wellbeing of neighbour. Moreover, a skilled story teller authenticates his tale with the sounds, sights and smells of his chosen settings. Thus to the infamous Tasmanian penal colony Chris goes \u2013 and cleverly takes us, his readers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree Too\u201d is peppered with conversations to savour. By way of example: Ever wondered about sea sickness? New chum, \u201cHow long does it take to get used to it(sea sickness)?\u201d Old sailor, \u201cA week or two should do it, some a little more. Don\u2019t look down, look at tha\u2019 horizon, might \u2018elp.\u201d \u201cDoes that help looking at the horizon?\u201d \u201cDunno, neva\u2019 been sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

The characters captivate deep truths to ponder. At a moment of savage encounter and impending retribution, a voice is raised, \u201cNot to kill takes a far greater strength of character than to do what anger requests.\u201d Is such strength possible? How might it be gained?<\/p>\n

Chris is passionate about Tasmania, history and the God of life. In \u2018Free Too\u2019 he has wonderfully woven these passions into high adventure. We need more of this.<\/p>\n

A gritty read. True to life, both then and now. Worth the price? Yeah. Buy two!<\/p>\n

See the website, \u2018FREE TOO\u2019 by Chris Thiele<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am speaking at a 200 Year Celebration of Tasmania’s first chaplain, the Reverend Robert Knopwood, at Prince’s Square\u00a0in Launceston at 2pm Saturday. I found Chris Thiele’s historical novel about early Tasmania and in which the Chaplain Knopwood makes an … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7673"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7701,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions\/7701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}