Lesley Truffle - Writer

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Historical

My Favourite Horror Child

February 25, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  My Favourite Horror Child   Eloise and I go way back. At about seven I discovered six-year-old Eloise. She was parent-free, running amuck in the Plaza New York with her nanny, a pug and a turtle. I didn’t find it strange that Eloise exercised with champagne bottles, as my sister and I had hidden … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Eloise, Eloise in Paris, France, French, Hilary Knight, Kay Thompson, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, The Plaza Hotel

Phoenix Rising

January 4, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  Phoenix Rising   ‘Hope. It’s like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It’s a fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. And it’s the only thing in the world keeping me afloat.’ Tahereh Mafi   Moira Finucane … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Melbourne, Mythology, Observations, writers & creatives Tagged: 2021, Ancient Myths, burlesque, Finucane, hope, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Moira Finucane, Mythology, Phoenix, Phoenix Rising, Phoenix Year, Tahereh Mafi

Trees of Paradise

December 23, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  ‘He who loves not women, wine and song remains a fool his whole life long’. Martin Luther – Professor of theology, author, composer, Augustinian monk.   Trees of Paradise Historians believe our Christmas trees might be a close relative of the Medieval Trees of Paradise that appeared in Western Europe around late December in … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Mythology, Nature Tagged: Adam and Eve, Celtic Mythology, Christmas, Christmas mythology, Christmas trees, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Luther, Martin Luther, Trees of Paradise

Pagan Rituals

December 19, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Pagan Rituals Many present day Christmas traditions were derived from ancient cultures. Originally created by our ancestors, the same rituals manifest across the Western World every December. In the past these traditions were mysterious and sacred rites. They were backed by superstition, belief in magic and the desire to protect communities from fear of the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, current news, Historical, Mythology, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Ancient Celts, Ancient Myths, Celtic Druids, Celts, Christmas, Christmas mythology, Christmas rituals, COVID-19, Druids, Lesley Truffle, Mistletoe, Mistletoe myths, Saturnalia, Xmas

This Charming Man

October 8, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  This Charming Man    ‘If people turn to look at you in the street, you are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.’                                             Beau Brummell (George Bryan Brummell 1778-1840)   2020 is a year where fashion was sidelined. As the pandemic seized control of the globe, fashion was … [Read more…]

Posted in: Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: 1700's, Beau Brummell, Brummell, Dandies, Dandyism, Dior, eighteemth century, fashion, George Bryan Brummell, George IV, men's fashion, Prince Regent, Regency England

The Problem With Henry

August 17, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

The Problem With Henry                                        ‘I swear again, I would not be a queen  For all the world.’                    Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife.                                           Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth.   King Henry VIII has been receiving bad press for centuries. Shakespeare, along with later writers and playwrights, got in … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Anne Boleyn, film, films, Henry V111, King Henry, Lesley Truffle, movies, Shakespeare, The Private Life of Henry, the Tudors, Will Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Lascivious Lutes

July 11, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Shakespeare’s Lascivious Lutes    ‘Grim-visaged war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.’          Richard III by William Shakespeare.   I went to a girl’s high school in … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Historical, Playwright, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Elizabethan, King Lear, Lesley Truffle, Richard 111, Shakespeare, the Bard, Will Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

Devilish Desires

June 11, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Dorian Gray’s Devilish Desires   ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.’ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde   In Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray the characters throw themselves around dramatically and rarely ever sit quietly. They fling themselves at the furniture with … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: British playwrights, British writer, Dorian Gray, gothic fiction, gothic fiction books, Lesley Truffle, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, Oscar Wilde, playwright, poet, poets, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde

I Want That Cake

April 20, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

I Want That Cake ‘Let there be no shame on me tonight!’ Prince Wenzel von Metternich 1832   The narrator of my novel, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, was named in honour of a famous cake. Sasha Torte is a world-class Tasmanian pastry chef and she establishes her magnificent cake emporium in Wolfftown, a fictional … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, cakes and cooking, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Anna Maria Sacher, cake, cakes, Eduard Sacher, Franz Sacher, Hotel Sacher, Lesley Truffle, Sachertorte, Sasher Torte, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

Forest Bathing

April 16, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Forest Bathing   My mind keeps wandering to the empty spaces and forests that will still be there when the pandemic retreats. Dreams of whispering trees and rustlings in the grass. When I was living and working near Tokyo a few years ago, I got to know a Japanese bullet train driver. Roshi is … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Historical, Nature, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, Wilderness Areas Tagged: Australia World Heritage, Australian rainforests, Australian Wilderness, Calm, Dorrigo rainforest, ecotherapy, Forest Bathing, Gondwana Rainforests, Japan, Japanese forests, Lesley Truffle, Meditation, Nature, Shinrin-Yoku, Wilderness areas

To Proust or not to Proust

March 12, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

To Proust or not to Proust   ‘One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory’. Rita Mae Brown   Memories get a bad wrap from quite a lot of folk, including Rita Mae Brown. Yet so many song lyrics dwell on memories. Love songs frequently combine memories with intense regret, and in turn … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, cakes and cooking, Film, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades Tagged: Alain Delon, cakes, childhood memories, Delon, France, French cooking, Lesley Truffle, madelaines, Marcel Proust, memories, memory, Proust, Remenbrance of Things Past, Swann in Love, Swann's Way, Un Amour de Swann

She Purred Like a Tiger

November 7, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

She Purred Like a Tiger In 1903 Mrs Elinor Glyn published, Three Weeks. These days the novel is considered a bizarre but fairly tame read, but back then it was the Edwardians version of Fifty Shades of Grey and sold about 2 million copies. In the opening pages of my novel, The Scandalous Life of … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Edwardian Literature, Edwardians, Elinor Glyn, historical, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, Three Weeks, Three Weeks a novel, Tiger skins

Travelling with Casanova

October 17, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Travelling with Casanova   Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was a gambler all his life. He also had numerous other careers and was known as: a soldier, a spy, a preacher, a professional writer, a violinist, a silk manufacturer, a lottery director and an alchemist. Born April 1725 in Venice, he graduated at seventeen with a law … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Brunelleschi, Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, Giacomo Casanova, History of My Life, Lesley Truffle, Umberto Brunelleschi

Devils of Tasmania

September 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle
"Taz!"by Justy.C is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Devils of Tasmania The Tasmanian Devil knows how to rub its enemies up the wrong way. When confronted by transgressors, devils have been observed to yawn. A big wide yawn exposing all its sharp teeth and strong muscular jaws. They’re strictly carnivorous and go for snakes, birds, fish, insects and carrion. Tasmania is the only … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Historical, Wilderness Areas Tagged: Australia World Heritage, Australian animals, Carnivorous marsupials, Devil Facial Tumour, Devils, Endangered species, Marsupials, nose to tail eating, Tasmania, Tasmanian animals, Tasmanian Devils, World Heritage

Wicked Women

August 16, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Wicked Women   Famous historical figures are frequently sensationalized to provide fodder for films, plays, operas and books. Facts are wilfully ignored because wickedness, orgies, incest, violence, psychological abuse and criminal activity will always find an audience. Cleopatra was frequently represented as an objectified woman. Everyone from Cicero to Shakespeare used her to their own … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Cesare Borgia, Cleopatra, femme fatale, Italian History, Italy, Lucrece Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Pope Alexander V1, The Borgias, Victor Hugo

The Leopard

August 8, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  THE LEOPARD One of the most astonishing things about the novel, The Leopard  is that it was initially rejected by major publishing houses. Yet when it was finally published in 1958, it was acknowledged to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately by this time the author, Giuseppe di Lampedusa had died at the age of sixty … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Film, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Alain Delon, Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, films, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Ill Gattopardo, Italian Literature, Italy, Lampedusa, Luchino Visconti, mid twentieth century literature, movies, Sicily, The Leopard, Viconte

The Elixir of Youth

July 14, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

The Elixir of Youth   ‘Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve’. French fashion designer Coco Chanel   Many of us believe that in today’s era of Botox and extreme cosmetic surgery, Chanel’s statement no longer applies. A scan of Hollywood’s red carpet affairs, … [Read more…]

Posted in: Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Beauty, Beauty Myth, Casanova, Chanel, Coco Chanel, elixir of youth, Giacomo Casanova, Good Queen Bess, Iris Apfel, plastic surgery, Queen Elizabeth 1, Virgin Queen

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