‘Nothing to cry about’ – author talk with Joan Atherton Hooper

Swan Hill Regional Library is please to present an evening with author Joan Atherton-Hooper.

Joan’s unflinching memoir ‘Nothing to cry about’ begins when she discovers a photo of the young man who, in 1939, murdered her father.

Alfred Atherton was 35 when his wife’s secret lover shot him dead in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne’s outer east. This much Joan knows from the newspaper archives she has read. But the circumstances around the murder are contested and Joan always had her own questions. And the biggest question of all – was the killer acting alone, or was her mother behind the murder as part of a bid for freedom from her husband?

From growing up in Colac as a ward of the state and living in an orphanage from the age of two, to a deserted wife in Melbourne’s Eastern suburbs with daughters struggling with drug, alcohol and mental health issues, Joan has an astonishing sense of humour and an iron-clad will to ‘rise above her station’ and turn her life into a success.

To learn more about Joan and her search for the truth, join us for an author talk at the Swan Hill Library.
Book signing will be available after the talk, with books on sale for $30 each (cash only).

For more information or to book, contact the Swan Hill Library on 5036 2480.

“This is no ordinary story. Nor is it a larger-than-life story. It is a story of extraordinary resilience, humanity – and against all the odds – both innocence and a capacity for laughter. It should be read by everyone who thinks they are a hard luck story and everyone else to remind them how lucky they are.” – Dr Paul Monk