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Australian-born to Yugoslav parents, Jean Zuvela was among the pioneers who established a Lime Kiln community over 300 kms east of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia, in the 1920s. She tells the story of her early childhood experiences in the mining town of Gwalia, as well as Spearwood and Kalgoorlie, so often tinged with tragedy.
In the 1920s she joined the small Yuogslav community at the Lime Kilns, marrying kiln manager Mark Zuvela. It was a life of hardship and many challenges posed by isolation, but Jean's spirit of generosity and adaptability is evident from her story-telling. Living in houses made from beaten kerosene tins and bag walls, the people of the Lime Kilns became a thriving, hard-working community with dances, music and many intriguing stories.
In her unique conversational style, Jean's stories of her life reveal a resilient, adaptable and extraordinarily generous woman.
About the author
Born in the 1950s, Jenny Kroonstuiver spent her childhood living on pastoral stations firstly in Western Queensland and then on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. She trained as a teacher and spent several years teaching in country areas of the Northern Territory and Queensland before returning to Kalgoorlie in the 1980s. After a short-lived marriage, she raised her four children alone, continuing to work in the broader education sector. From 2004 she took up a role managing the national training system for the Australian meat industry, a role she held until her retirement in 2020. After publishing several family histories and biographies, this is her fourth novel set in the ghost towns of Australia.
