Марк Данн – лучшие книги

Ella Minnow Pea is an epistolary novel set in the fictional island of Nollop situated off the coast of South Carolina and home to the inventor the pangram The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog. Now deceased, the islanders have erected a monument to honor their hero, but one day a tile with the letter  z falls from the statue. The leaders interpret the falling tile as a message from beyond the grave and the letter is banned from use. On an island where the residents pride themselves on their love of language, this is seen as a tragedy. They are still reeling from the shock, when another tile falls and then another.... Mark Dunn takes us on a journey against time through the eyes of Ella Minnow Pea and her family as they race to find another phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet to save them from being unable to communicate. Eventually, the only letters remaining are LMNOP, when Ella finally discovers the phrase that will save their language.

In 1790, five convicts escaped Sydney by boat and were swept ashore near present day Newcastle. They were taken into the local Aboriginal clan, marrying and starting families. Thus began a long and often dramatic series of encounters between Aboriginals and convicts in the Hunter Valley, the second European settlement after Sydney. This book tells the story of the Hunter's first 50 years—a rich account of relations between the convicts, land owners (many former convicts), and Aboriginal clans. Not a simple recounting of frontier conflict, it also shows how some Aboriginal families found ways to survive the loss of their land by subtle forms of resistance, or by working for the European settlers. Based on meticulous and extensive primary research which has uncovered many new stories,The Convict Valley is a new Australian history classic.