Gerard signs copies at Mary Ryans, New Farm, where the book is No. 2.
MORE than three years after its publication, Reflections on New Farm is still a best-seller at the local Mary Ryan’s bookshop.
Maybe the book’s popularity has something to do with New Farm’s old world charm and the fact that it is Brisbane’s most densely-populated suburb (5,900 people per sq km, June 2010).
According to co-author Gerard Benjamin, the book inevitably sparks a string of memories with readers who once lived in the locality.
“Here’s a typical reaction,” Gerard explained. “A daughter shows her mother the book. The mother recalls living on Merthyr Road first at No. 116 then No. 34 (referred to in Reflections as the Penton house), then came the 1974 flood. This dramatic event made such an impression on the mother, that her daughter made it the subject of a school assignment…”
It’s no wonder that there are whispers on the grapevine that a new New Farm book may be on the drawing board for 2012… (Photo courtesy of Holly Keys)
