• A Cottage in St Francis Bay
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    A Cottage in St Francis Bay

    This small book is about the “Village of St Francis Bay” and how it has evolved over the 40-odd years since “The Cottage” was built.
    But – it is not a history book with names, facts and dates!
    It is about the spirit of the Village and the folk who have come over the years, either as holiday makers, or more especially, those who have made it their home.
    It describes old roads, bread wars, new bridges, dams, multiple floods, fires, ongoing beach wars, and the reaction of folk who lived through these changes.
    One could say that it is a glimpse of St Francis Bay through the keyhole of the front door of the family Cottage, built in 1974/1975, and the anecdotes relating to “Village” life that were passed on around the dining room table.

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  • Secrets of a Walking Stick
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    Secrets of a Walking Stick

    This is a delightful little collection of somewhat whimsical, somewhat satirical vignettes and reflections on the “State of the Village”, as well as the world at large, as seen through the eyes of the inhabitants of an umbrella stand in a cottage in a seaside village.
    The author, Mike Silberbauer, a self-styled “Village Eccentric”, has imbued his collection of sundry walking sticks, plus the odd umbrella, with distinct and highly appropriate personalities, and proceeds, in the form of conversations in the umbrella stand, to recount stories from his and family’s lives, as well as sometimes highly astute observations on various contemporary and historical “happenings” in the world out there.
    The device of animating inanimate objects to tell a story is not new, but Mike has done it extremely well, especially in defining the characters and personalities of his storytellers. Rather than fall into the trap, as his foreword writer put it, of “composing eloquent sentences”, Mike has perfected a simplistic, almost innocent style, which makes for a refreshing, fun and light-hearted read.

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