Mai intai a fost coperta: m-au atras combinatia de albastru cu galben, plus micuta pitulice australiana. In secunda imediat urmatoare am observat numele autoarei. Si in secunda a treia eram cu mana pe mouse, comandand cartea.

Pentru cine a citit fie si numai una dintre cartile celebrei autoare australiene, nu e nevoie de nicio explicatie. Pentru ceilalti… eu zic sa incercati. Eu am inceput acum ani cu „Gradina uitata”, preferata mea; mi-au placut si „Pazitoarea tainei” si „Casa de langa lac”.

Noua carte a lui Kate Morton se petrece aproape exclusiv in Australia, si foarte putin in Anglia – am ramas insa chiar din acest putin, cautand locatiile pe net, cu niste imagini care mi-au devenit imediat dragi: Hampstead, magazinele Judy Green (flori) si Waterstones (carti) – ce altceva?..

Descrierile din Australia sunt insa cele care m-au fermecat pana la a ma face sa-mi doresc, pentru prima oara in viata, sa ajung la antipozi. Cu copacii de eucalipt, mimozele, papagalii si aceste pitulici. Care nu mi se par a avea ceva de-a face cu ce numim noi pitulice in Europa – dar probabil primii imigranti au simtit nevoia sa denumeasca formele de viata pe care le descopereau la capatul pamantului prin cuvinte care le erau familiare si le aminteau de casa.

Citind partea de multumiri am descoperit si numele artistei care a ilustrat coperta cartii (se pare ca exista mai multe variante de coperta, ale aceleiasi artiste): Bec Bartell – am intrat pe contul sau de FB si… mi s-a luminat ziua. O potrivire mai buna intre creatiile artistei si cartea pe care a ilustrat-o nu avea cum sa existe. Bec Bartell este si ea indrgostita de flora si fauna continentului sau – frunze si flori de eucalipt si aceste pasarele de safir peste tot. M-am indragostit.

Cartea este scrisa in stilul care a consacrat-o pe autoare – cu salturi multiple in timp, cu multe rasturnari de situatie – de fiecare data cand zici „hai ca m-am prins”… urmeaza alta surpriza. Ca si cum ai cauta in interiorul unor papusi Matrioska – de fiecare data mai e ceva acolo.

Eu am ramas din carte cu citatele de mai jos – am constatat acum, cand le-am strans pe toate, ca sunt 90% despre carti si magia lecturii. Am incercat sa le traduc dar am avut senzatia ca mai mult stric, asa ca…

” He’d seen books on his teacher’s desk at school, but – influenced by his father, perhaps – had assumed them objects of punishment and toil. He hadn’t realised that inside their covers were whole wide worlds, filled with people and places and highjinks and humour, just waiting for him to join them.”

„If his will ever weakened, and he found himself staring out of the windows, lost in dreams of other places, his mother’s words came back to him, spoken on a hot day at the edge of his convalescent bed when he was just a boy: „There’s other ways to travel.””

„If a woman doesn’t take herself seriously, she’ll have a difficult time convincing anyone else to bother.”

„This was the magic of books, the curious alchemy that allowed a human mind to turn black ink on white pages into a whole other world.”

„Reading shapes a person. The landscape of books is more real, in some ways, than the one outside the window. It isn’t experienced at a remove; it is internal, vital. […] had led completely different lives – and yet, through a mutual love of reading, they had inhabited the same world.”

„On Christmas Eve morning, the bookshop was doing a roaring trade. […] As Jess stepped out of the shop and onto the pavement, she was filled with the lightness of spirit and free-floating sense of possibility that always claimed her when she had a brown paper bag containing new books under her arm.”

„It never failed to amaze Jess, the power of the written word to impart not only knowledge, but experience. This was her first time physically in this house, but Daniel Miller had taken her to Halcyon in 1959 and thus she already knew it. […] Jess experienced a flash of what fell almost like a personal memory...”