Preheat oven to 165 degrees C. Grease and flour a square cake tin. Stir together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices in a bowl. Mix in wet ingredients from the saucepan and pour into cake tin. Bake for 50 minutes in preheated oven. Cool in pan for ten minutes before serving.
Acknowledgements
I have always been fascinated by circuses. One of my earliest memories is visiting the Great Moscow Circus with my father and being entranced by the performing bears. (As a vet, Dad was called out to treat one of the Russian bears when the circus first came to Australia.) I remember as a teenager trying to teach myself bareback circus tricks on my pony – and getting thrown off multiple times. Over the years I managed to break several bones attempting fancy tricks on horseback.
This book was so much fun to research and write. I used multiple books, newspaper articles, memoirs, blogs, biographies and original film footage to research Australian circus life during the 1930s and the Great Depression. I would particularly like to acknowledge the work of Dr Mark St Leon, circus historian, including his biographies of famous Australian circus families such as the Wirths, St Leons, Ashtons and Bullens.
I was particularly inspired by the stories of several fascinating young women who grew up performing in Australian circuses, including bareback riders May Wirth and Peggy St Leon, elephant trainer Eileen Wirth, and artists Dollie Lennon, La Belle Marie, Dorothy Ashton and Lilian Bullen.
I am also very grateful to the cast and crew of Cavalia, who helped me with research for this book, particularly Eric Paquette and Mathieu Latourelle, and equestrian performers Katie Cox and Fairland Fergusson.
As always, enormous thanks go to my first readers and research assistants – Emily Murrell and Rob Murrell. We had great fun exploring circus lots and meeting performers.
One of the fascinating things we discovered during our circus research was that early last century, my husband’s great-uncle Max Murrell ran away from home when he was a teenager and joined a circus, performing under the name The Daredevil Balto, the man without nerve. He eloped with a beautiful girl called Gertrude and together they performed an ‘Aerial Equilibrist’ act for several years until his family enticed him to come home again. I loved examining the beautiful old photo album of Max and Gertrude’s circus travels all over the world, including South Africa, India, East Indies, Philippines, New Guinea and the USA. One of his acts involved amazing acrobatic feats balancing on a chair on a tightrope, just like my character Jem. A huge thank you to Ken Murrell and Tony Murrell for sharing family stories and photos of Max, The Daredevil Balto.
Lastly, a huge thank you to my wonderful publisher, Zoe Walton, editor extraordinaire, Brandon VanOver, and the rest of my wonderful team at Random House: Julie Burland, Dorothy Tonkin, Zoe Bechara and Rebecca Diep. Thanks too to the cover designer Nanette Backhouse and my agent, Pippa Masson. You are all brilliant!
About the Author
At about the age of eight, Belinda Murrell began writing stirring tales of adventure, mystery and magic in hand-illustrated exercise books. As an adult, she combined two of her great loves – writing and travelling the world – and worked as a travel journalist, technical writer and public relations consultant. Now, inspired by her own three children, Belinda is a bestselling, internationally published children’s author. Her titles include four picture books, her fantasy adventure series, The Sun Sword Trilogy, and her six time-slip adventures, The Locket of Dreams, The Ruby Talisman, The Ivory Rose, The Forgotten Pearl, The River Charm and The Sequin Star.
For younger readers (aged 6 to 9), Belinda has a new series, Lulu Bell, about friends, family, animals and adventures growing up in a vet hospital.
Belinda lives in Manly in a gorgeous old house overlooking the sea with her husband, Rob, her three beautiful children and her dog, Rosie. She is an Author Ambassador for Room to Read and Books in Homes.
Find out more about Belinda at her website:
www.belindamurrell.com.au
BOOKS BY BELINDA MURRELL
The Locket of Dreams
The Ruby Talisman
The Ivory Rose
The Forgotten Pearl
The River Charm
The Sequin Star
The Sun Sword Trilogy
Book 1: The Quest for the Sun Gem
Book 2: The Voyage of the Owl
Book 3: The Snowy Tower
For Younger Readers
Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn
Lulu Bell and the Fairy Penguin
Lulu Bell and the Cubby Fort
Lulu Bell and the Moon Dragon
Lulu Bell and the Circus Pup
Lulu Bell and the Sea Turtle
Lulu Bell and the Tiger Cub
Lulu Bell and the Pyjama Party
Lulu Bell and the Christmas Elf
Lulu Bell and the Koala Joey
Lulu Bell and the Arabian Nights
THE LOCKET OF DREAMS
When Sophie falls asleep wearing a locket that belonged to her grandmother’s great-grandmother, she magically travels back to 1858 to learn the truth about the mysterious Charlotte Mackenzie.
Charlotte and her sister, Nell, live a wonderful life on a misty Scottish island. Then disaster strikes and it seems the girls will lose everything they love. Why were the sisters sent to live with strangers? Did their uncle steal their inheritance? And what happened to the priceless sapphire – the Star of Serendib?
Sophie shares in the girls’ adventures as they outwit greedy relatives, escape murderous bushrangers, and fight storm and fire. But how will her travels in time affect Sophie’s own life?
Shortlisted for the 2011 KOALA awards
OUT NOW!
THE RUBY TALISMAN
When Tilly’s aunt tells her of their ancestress who survived the French Revolution, she shows Tilly a priceless heirloom. Tilly falls asleep wearing the ruby talisman, wishing she could escape to a more adventurous life . . .
In 1789, Amelie-Mathilde is staying at the opulent palace of Versailles. Her guardians want her to marry the horrible old Chevalier to revive their fortunes. Amelie-Mathilde falls asleep holding her own ruby talisman, wishing someone would come to her rescue . . .
Tilly wakes up beside Amelie-Mathilde. The timing couldn’t be worse. The Bastille has fallen and starving peasants are rioting across the country. The palace is in chaos.
Tilly knows that Amelie and her cousin Henri must escape from France if they are to survive the Revolution ahead. But with mutinous villagers, vengeful servants and threats at every turn, there seems nowhere to run. Will they ever reach England and safety?
OUT NOW!
THE IVORY ROSE
Jemma has just landed her first job, babysitting Sammy. It’s in Rosethorne, one of the famous Witches’ Houses near where she lives. Sammy says the house is haunted by a sad little girl, but Jemma doesn’t know what to believe.
One day when the two girls are playing hide-and-seek, Jemma discovers a rose charm made of ivory. As she touches the charm she sees a terrifying flashback. Is it the moment the ghost was murdered? Jemma runs for her life, falling down the stairs and tumbling into unconsciousness.
She wakes up in 1895, unable to get home. Jemma becomes an apprentice maidservant at Rosethorne – but all is not well in the grand house. Young heiress Georgiana is constantly sick. Jemma begins to suspect Georgiana is being poisoned, but who would poison her, and why? Jemma must find the proof in order to rescue her friend – before time runs out.
A CBCA Notable Book
OUT NOW!
THE FORGOTTEN PEARL
When Chloe visits her grandmother, she learns how close the Second World War came to destroying her family. Could the experiences of another time help Chloe to face her own problems?
In 1941, Poppy lives in Darwin, a peaceful paradise far from the war. But when Japan attacks Pe
arl Harbor, then Australia, everything Poppy holds dear is threatened – her family, her neighbours, her friends and her beloved pets. Her brother Edward is taken prisoner-of-war. Her home town becomes a war zone, as the Japanese raid over and over again.
Terrified for their lives, Poppy and her mother flee to Sydney, only to find that the danger follows them there. Poppy must face her war with courage and determination. Will her world ever be the same again?
A 2013 KOALA awards Honour Book
OUT NOW!
THE RIVER CHARM
When artistic Millie visits a long-lost aunt, she learns the true story of her family’s tragic past. Could the mysterious ghost girl Millie has painted be her own ancestor?
In 1839, Charlotte Atkinson lives at Oldbury, a gracious estate in the Australian bush, with her Mamma and her sisters and brother. But after the death of Charlotte’s father, things start to go terribly wrong. There are murderous convicts and marauding bushrangers. Worst of all, Charlotte’s new stepfather is cruel and unpredictable.
Frightened for their lives, the family flees on horseback to a stockman’s hut in the wilderness. Charlotte’s mother and the children must fight to save their property, their independence and their very right to be a family. Will they ever return together to their beautiful home?
OUT NOW!
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
The Sequin Star
ePub ISBN 9780857982063
Copyright © Belinda Murrell, 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx
First published by Random House Australia in 2014
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Murrell, Belinda, author.
Title: The sequin star / Belinda Murrell.
ISBN: 9780857982063 (ebook)
Target Audience: For primary school age.
Subjects: Depressions – 1929 – Australia – Juvenile fiction.
Circus – Juvenile fiction.
Time travel – Juvenile fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover design: book design by saso
Cover photos: girl and sequin brooch courtesy iStockphoto, circus tent courtesy Lynn Longos/Flickr Open/Getty Images
Internal design, typesetting and ebook coversion by Midland Typesetters, Australia
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