Customer Reviews

The Past Present: Stories

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Regular readers of BuzzWords Magazine will know that BuzzWords has published two of the featured stories in this collection: 'The Tschusch', and 'Just a Toenail Away'. If Sylvia's breadth as a storyteller is hinted at by those two titles, it is soundly confirmed by the contents of The Past Present, which is truly eclectic in its approach.

For those who don't know her, Sylvia is an Australian working for the UN in Switzerland, and these stories give unwitting testimony to the fact in that we travel seamlessly from Australia, through Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Russia, to Britain and beyond. The book contains twenty-one of her stories; a good mix of thought-provoking work, leavened by the occasional humorous piece.

The title story, 'The Past Present', is about Franz and Klara Muller, exiled Germans, living in Australia, who find themselves forced to confront the fragility of their lives when the past comes knocking in the form of a war crimes investigator posing as a German language student.

Following that comes 'No Man's Land', a short short, set in the Algeria of 1957, in which a family finds itself caught up in the war between the NLF and the French. The story is narrated by the then nine-year-old Samir, and for me, signals one of Sylvia's major strengths. Several of the stories are told from a child's viewpoint, and all are totally consistent in voice.

In a lighter mood, we have 'The True Story of What Really Happened to Humpty the D', (bet you can't guess what that's about!) and, towards the end of the book, the delightful 'Grow Up'. This story deals with the quirky Pamela, who in refusing to grow up, finds she has come full circle when she becomes a grandmother, and realises that her grandchildren understand her in a way that no one else ever has done. All in all, this is a very strong first collection.

Zoe King, Editor, BuzzWords Magazine, UK

The Past Present.

There are gems to be found here.

I loved the fact that the author covers such a broad canvas - both in terms of geography and in terms of emotional content.

There are painful stories of conflict amongst people in dreadful situations, but also lighter tales that had me grinning - especially the wonderful 'True Story of What Really Happened to Humpty the D'.

I'm sure there will be many more goodies to come from the pen of Sylvia Petter - and I look forward to them.

Here is an unusual and brilliant collection of stories. Each one is carefully crafted with dialogue that dips the reader right into the drama of contemporary lives. Take a moment and enjoy a roller coaster ride around Europe, and back and forth to Australia, the country of origin of author Sylvia Petter. Discover what crossing cultures does to falling in love (Apple of Paradise, Friends and Lovers). Remember what it felt like growing up (Fire Cries). Feel compassion for people growing old (The Past Present, Happy Returns). Appreciate heightened moments of awareness (Bobbin Head) and flights into fantasy (An Imaginary Friend). Sylvia Petter's writing is both honest and imaginative. The author lives in a multi-cultured world and does not shy away from the shadows (The Tschusch, Viennese Blood). By moments there remains a hallucinatory image that haunts the reader long afterwards (Mind Wisps, Back Burning). And there is redemption. The stories matter. Love matters. Life transforms.
- Susan Tiberghien, teacher, editor of Offshoots - Writing from Geneva, and author of Looking for Gold and Circling to the Center.

In "The Past Present", Sylvia Petter chases a rainbow of tales that wander from the beaches and blue mountains of Australia to the hotel lobbies and conference halls of an international career. Lighthearted nonsense punctuates memories of war and uprisings, unhappy affairs and broken marriages or the enduring love for a child, a friend, an ageing man. Grim or tender, she speaks in many voices, adopts many guises. Convincingly.

To me, reading Sylvia Petter's "The Past Present: Stories" is like looking into a kaleidoscope with a succession of shifting shadows and lights. Each story reached me and took me to a new country, and with a different voice. There was a depth to the characters, a recognition, the way you meet a stranger and he isn't a stranger, a sort of magic in truth. In a few words, Sylvia managed to peel off the layers and I was inside the person, knowing and believing in him. There are whimsical moments, as in "What Really Happened to Humpty D," love stories, women who think of leaving husbands, political stories, resonating stories of childhood, and one of my favorites, "Just a Toenail Away," a poignant story of unrequited love. This book is one you shouldn't miss.