Good read: Author Rozzi Bazzani with former schoolmate and Kyabram First Thursday Book Club member Joan Greenwood in the gardens of Haslem Cottage last week after the review of Rozzi’s The Piano Woman Book at Karlsruhe Homestead.
Rozzi Bazzani had a few butterflies in her tummy when she joined a circle of champagne-sipping Kyabram First Thursday Book Club members in front of an open fire at the historic Karlsruhe mansion at Lancaster last week.
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“I was a bit daunted walking into a big circle of girls who had all read the book, some of them on the same day as the review and many of them had read it twice,” she said.
“This is a very serious reading group.”
The author, who had her first taste of the arts as a singer and later did most of her written work as a long-time contributor to the Herald-Sun’s arts section, was in Kyabram after a chance meeting with a former Bendigo schoolmate.
Interestingly it was Rozzi’s decision to go “back to school” that resulted in her moving away from using her voice as her form of income to using her literary skills.
After voicing a variety of commercials and working as a recording studio singer around the world, she graduated from Melbourne University after majoring in romance languages, linguistics and fine art.
She was then pursued by the family of Australia television giant Hector Crawford to write a fully researched biography of the television mogul which was eventually recognised with a Victorian Royal Historical Society Publication Prize.
The shift to fiction came through her passion for story telling and, just two years later, she has The Piano Woman and the first in a three-book series, Making up Amanda, on the bookshelves.
Her invitation to Kyabram was extended after Joan had previously had Kyabram Book Club members read her first fictional creation.
Rozzi, who lives at Gisborne, and Joan went to Bendigo High School together. They had lost contact, but a “back-to” reignited the friendship.
Joan Greenwood, a key contributor to the 16-member book club, extended the invitation to Rozzi not long after she had launched her latest book — but it was her first work of fiction, 2021’s The Piano Game, that was the focus of the Book Club’s attention.
On Friday morning, the night after the review, the pair resembled a couple of excited schoolgirls as they spoke about plans of coming together again while enjoying breakfast together at the Haslem Cottage, the Bed and Breakfast that Rozzi used as home base during her visit to the country.
Most members of the Kyabram book club re-read the book prior to the Karlsruhe author visit, hearing the story that in some ways reflected parts of the author’s life.
Rozzi's review: Kyabram First Thursday Book Club members at Karlsruhe Homsetead for the review of Rozzi Bazzini's first fiction book. She has just released a second, which is the first in a series of three books, titled Making up Amanda.
The Piano Woman is the story of a Melbourne woman who finds out she is to inherit a piano from a woman she has never heard of and finds herself in England unearthing a secret that leads to a series of life changing moments.
Rozzi was given a piano by my grandmother, but her story is inspired by the true story of a music teacher who was seduced by former English cricket captain Ivo Bligh.
But rest assured there is no mention of cricket in the book, the characters (as is the author’s right) of the real life love story replaced by alternate identities.
“I met my mother and some of her friends at Rupertswood Mansion for morning tea and heard the story,” she said.
Incidentally Ivo Bligh was gifted his Rupertswood Mansion after his team’s test victory against Australia in 1882-83 and is well known as the birthplace of the Ashes.
The Piano Woman has historic and modern threads that revolve around half a dozen characters, Maddison is the lead and many women related to her story and Uncle Jim was another popular character.
“One woman has read it on a plane the night before on the way back from Perth when she remembered she had book club,” Kyabram First Thursday Book Club’s Joan Greenwood said.
“Another had read it the same day, having walked the dog, had breakfast and then sat down to power through the book.”
Joan read the last four chapters to re-acquaint herself with the story.
As for the review of the book, the author said she was thrilled.
“It was a wonderful place to do a review, in front of the fire with all the history of the homestead,” she said.
“You have to be on your toes with book club readers and I was thrilled with the conversation.
“I will be back.”
No doubt the Kyabram book club will include her latest offering, Making up Amanda, on its radar and Rozzi will be back in Kyabram before she knows it.
