It has been weeks since Australia farewelled the great Bob Hawke for the final time at a moving service in Sydney and now his daughter has revealed her plans to write and publish a book about the former prime minister, with the tome expected to hit shelves before Christmas this year.
Sue Pieters-Hawke has written to her father’s closest friends and associates asking them to share memories of her dad as a way to reflect and celebrate the previous leader of the Labor Party , The Daily Telegraph reports.
According to the publication Pieters-Hawke sent an email to a number of people last week with hopes of compiling their personal anecdotes and stories into a book. Sue reportedly explained she and Hawke had discussed writing a book about their lives but due to illness had to put their plans on hold.
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Now the author, who shot to fame in 2011 for her book Hazel: My Mother’s Story, is getting back on track with the new book, claiming it could “really strike a chord with people”.
“It’s my hope that we can produce something that’s both a celebration and a true reflection of him; that speaks to his vast majority of interests and experience,” she said in the email according to The Daily Telegraph.
“If you’re willing and able to contribute a memory (or several!) we’d love to include it in the book.”
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Sue added: “Given the huge public outpouring of love and admiration for him after his death I think it’s a book that could really strike a chord with people. I’m hoping for personal anecdotes and stories that can be funny, serious or anywhere in between. They don’t have to be ‘perfect’ – he wasn’t.”
The news comes after it was reported Hawke’s other daughter is set to launch legal action against her stepmother Blanche D’Alpuget after a row is said to have broken out over the contents of the former PM’s will.
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According to a report in The New Daily, Rosslyn Dillon has allegedly threatened to challenge the will in court, after Hawke bequeathed his entire multi-million dollar estate to his second wife, who he married in 1995.
The 58-year-old – whose mother was Hawke’s first wife Hazel Hawke – received a sum of around $750,000 from her father’s estate, reports the news outlet, under an agreement which was penned separately to her father’s will.
The same amount was reportedly also paid to Rosslyn’s siblings Sue Pieters-Hawke and Stephen Hawke, along with D’Alpuget’s son Louis Pratt, following Hawke’s death in May. It has been claimed that no further provision was made for Hawke’s three children, with everything going to Blanche.
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According to reports, the case looks set to proceed to the New South Wales Supreme Court, unless both parties can come to a private agreement.
Rosslyn has employed Sydney family law specialists Tiyce & Lawyers to represent her, however they declined to comment on the matter.