Lyn Hughes

Flock

Sometimes you have to leave behind what you most love . . .

Sydney, 1950. Following a chance encounter at Central Station, Francis Sprigge and Lilian Powys, two strangers escaping their past, fall in love and move to the Blue Mountains to follow their dream of a creative life. But as Francis immerses himself in his newfound passion for designing exquisite wallpaper, Lilian finds that the life she has always craved is inexplicably beyond her reach, despite her loving husband and their young daughter, Addie. However hard she tries to come to terms with the past, she ends up with more questions than answers, and cracks begin to appear in the family′s harmonious veneer, with startling repercussions.

Nearly thirty years later, Addie returns to the Blue Mountains to lead a small group of conservators in the restoration of a historic house to its nineteenth-century glory. But as they peel back the layers of wallpaper and begin to uncover the secrets of the house, all four find the past resurfacing in unexpected ways. Addie learns much more about herself, Francis and Lilian than she ever could have anticipated.

Flock is a powerful story of talented and passionate people and the ghosts they must lay to rest, as well as a ravishing exploration of the nature of love.

Flock is published by HarperCollins Fourth Estate and available in both paperback and eBook.

ISBN 9780732291853

Information on the references, institutions and people I consulted in writing Flock.

Wallpaper Institutions and Museums I visited these in writing Flock

Wallpaper Texts I used these in writing Flock

  • Adams, David (ed.) 1979, The Letters of Rachel Henning, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Vic
  • Brindley, B.H. 1950, Australian Home Decorator and Painter, Cologravure Publications (The Herald & Weekly Times, Ltd), Melbourne
  • Carlyle, Thomas 1906, The French Revolution (Vols I & II), Macmillan & Co, New York
  • Clarke, Kenneth 1964, Ruskin Today, Penguin Books, London
  • Freeland, J.M. 1988, Architecture in Australia, A History, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Vic
  • Frangiamore, Catherine 1977, Wallpapers in Historic Preservation, Technical Preservation Services Division, US Department of the Interior, Washington DC
  • Hoskins, Lesley (ed.) 1994, The Papered Wall: The History, Patterns and Techniques of Wallpaper, Thames & Hudson, London
  • Lane, Terence & Serle, Jessie 1990, Australians at Home: A Documentary History of Australian Domestic Interiors from 1788 to 1914, Oxford University Press, Melbourne
  • Lewis, Miles, “11.02 Paper & Papier Mâché, from Section Eleven: Finishes”, an online database, Australian Building: A Cultural Investigation
  • Lucas, Clive & Joyce, Ray 1987, Australian Country Houses, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne
  • Murphy, Phyllis 1985, The Decorated Wall: Eighty Years of Wallpaper in Australia c1850―1930, The Historic Houses Trust of NSW, Sydney
  • Nouvel-Kammerer, Odile 2000, French Scenic Wallpapers 1795―1865, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Flammarion, Paris
  • Nylander, Jane C. & Nylander, Richard C. 2005, Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken NJ
  • O’Brien, Siobhan 2004, A Life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
  • O’Neill, Helen 2006, Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret and Extraordinary Lives, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne
  • Parry, Linda (ed.) 1996, William Morris, Philip Wilson Publishers with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • Rosenband, Leonard N., Jean-Baptiste Réveillon: A Man on the Make in Old Regime France, French Historical Studies, vol. 20, Summer 1997
  • Ruskin, John 1978,  Praeterita: the Autobiography of John Ruskin, Oxford University Press, New York
  • Stapleton, Maisy (ed.) 1983, Historic Interiors, Sydney College of the Arts Press, Sydney
  • Tackett, Timothy 2003, When the King Took Flight, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Wallpaper Experts Wallpaper experts who assisted in my research for Flock

  • Véronique de la Hougue, Conservatrice, Département des papiers peints,  Musée des Arts décoratifs, (Paris), for sharing precious time with me and for her tireless work on behalf of wallpaper
  • Marie-Claire Nathan (Paris) for generously sharing her PhD thesis ‘Jean-Baptiste Réveillon 1725―1811’
  • Joanne Kosuda-Warner, Assistant Curator of Wallcoverings, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution (New York), who, perhaps unwittingly but happily, encouraged me not to fall flat on my wallpapery face
  • Leonard N. Rosenband, Professor of History, Utah State University, for a copy of his revelatory journal article “Jean-Baptiste Réveillon—A Man on the Make in Old Regime France”
  • Philippe de Fabry, Archivist at the Musée du papier peint, Rixheim, France (the sole wallpaper museum in the world), for access to the archives and original prints of Réveillon’s arabesques and flocks
  • Candace Guite, Librarian at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, for access to the remarkable Cambridge Fragments
  • Joanna Nicholas, Curator, and Michael Lech, Assistant Curator of the Historic Houses Trust’s Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection (Sydney), for helpful information on early Australian wallpaper designers and access to sample books of Florence Broadhurst’s wallpapers
  • Casey Khik of Chee Soon & Fitzgerald for an informative chat on Florence Broadhurst
  • David Lennie of Signature Prints, owner of the Florence Broadhurst library, for helpful instruction on how to hand-print a wallpaper

Other Wallpaper Links