Tato and the Retired Timekeeper

From an isolated childhood in the idyllic NSW Blue Mountains of the 1930s/40s to the bright lights of Sydney, Tato’s remarkable journey unfolds. It is highlighted by the special relationship with his father, Edwin, whose mysterious and sudden disappearance has a profound, disturbing and haunting effect on Tato – leading him to seek salvation in lively Sydney of the 1950s/60s.

But life isn’t that simple.

It is a tale of surprising twists and turns, peopled by an extraordinary array of colourful personalities. Threaded throughout are significant social and political events – both in Australia and internationally – which contributed to the changing character and ‘coming of age’ of post-war Australia.

The author was born in Sydney, Australia in 1948, graduating from Sydney University in 1970 with an Honours degree in Asian and European histories and a major in Political Science. He moved to Melbourne in 1971 where he married and has two children and two grandchildren. There, he came face to face with the close-knit, vibrant, Jewish Holocaust community, the experience of which compelled him to write this story. He has had a diverse employment career, spanning the public and private sectors working in the field of industrial relations and in the development and advocacy of public policy, retiring in 2006 as a director of the Australia Business Arts Foundation. This is his first novel.