Joan Zawatzky Books

 “The Wind’s Song” looks at the hidden spaces between who we are, and who we think we are, what we believe and what we know.

When twenty-six-year-old architect Josef’s beloved grandfather dies and his girlfriend threatens to leave him, he becomes depressed and reluctantly agrees to visit psychologist, Carla. This is the start of a relationship that will change both therapist and client.
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Ella is born in the 1960s, in Leopoldstadt, once a ghetto in Vienna, but she has no knowledge of her Jewish heritage. Her mother is unwilling to discuss the past and her father, a concentration camp survivor, dies shortly after her birth.

Ella and her neighbour, Luke, are childhood friends with different backgrounds who develop a life - long, loving relationship. When Luke leaves Vienna to complete his studies, a heartbroken Ella marries Richard. Though the marriage is unsatisfying, when Richard is offered a promotion in Australia, she reluctantly joins him with their youngest son.
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 “Humans are easy to control.  Soon we cats may domesticate them.”

Another funny, heart-warming and insightful novel written in both cats’ point of view following their journey in the Catland series.

Bella, a ginger, therapy cat and Oliver, a handsome, Siamese show cat are unique. Not only are they delightfully charming, and at times hilarious, they share their intimate feelings and shrewd observations of their human family, vets, catteries and all that they encounter.
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Bella is a Tabby cat rescued from a garbage dump by Karen, a counsellor. Karen recognises Bella’s calm, affectionate and easy-going temperament, and she becomes Karen’s therapy cat. With her deep purr and caring touch, Bella forms powerful, healing connections with Karen’s distressed clients and with seriously ill patients in hospital.

But, Bella does not work all the time. When not playing or sleeping, she delights in describing her world and the people in it. We discover her thoughts about her owners, sad children and teenagers, family relationships, vets, catteries, dogs, her friend the duck, her dreams and much more.
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I am convinced that love is one of the most powerful ingredients in stories that heal. Stories inspired by love take us beyond facts. They speak to our hearts and souls. They convey our deepest emotions of compassion, gratitude, and empathy.

In this collection of seventy, inspiring stories, Joan Zawatzky draws on her wealth of professional, counselling experience to share significant moments in the lives of ordinary people of all ages and diverse cultures, who have overcome obstacles, losses, and fears through understanding, self-belief, and embracing change.
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This breakthrough book addresses the current problem of anxiety in families and the suffering of family members from anxiety disorders − parents, school going or younger children, teenagers or grandparents. Step-by-step solutions are offered clearly and without jargon.

This book provides families with three major ways of overcoming anxiety:

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This book is for you if you feel:

• Your life is out of control.
• Defeated and hopeless about the future.
• That things that once gave you pleasure are no longer of interest.
• Tired all the time.
• Unable to motivate yourself.

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This novel takes the reader from contemporary Vienna to Melbourne, from the survivors of the Holocaust to the generations that follow. It is the story of a woman’s self-discovery, her growing inner strength, and her understanding of her past.

Ella is Jewish, born in the 1960’s in Leopoldstadt, once a ghetto in Vienna, but has no sense of her background. Her undemonstrative mother is unwilling to talk about the past and her father, a survivor of the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, died shortly after her birth.
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The Elephant’s Footprint is an intriguing crime novel laced with romance and set against a South African backdrop. Linda, a sharp and intuitive detective leaves Australia, to return to her birthplace Rustenburg, amidst the excitement of the World Cup soccer challenge. She finds the once lush farmland crippled by drought, lawlessness is on the rise and disease is rampant. At critical times, such as this, the local community seek help from their healers and witchdoctors. Even Voodoo resurfaces.
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Linda returns to the family orange farm in South Africa to attend her father’s funeral. She is drawn back to her past, to the striking beauty of her homeland and the people who still live and work there, but her country is vastly different to the one she left in 1985. A democratic government has emerged from the shame of apartheid, yet it’s a violent land where extreme poverty, AIDS and TB exist alongside western affluence and where beliefs in ancestral spirits and voodoo still linger below the surface.

Her father’s last wish was for Linda to investigate the murder of her youngest brother and the guilt of those accused. Ghosts of the past guide her search as she seeks the dangerous truths behind each new lead. As the lies unravel her family will be dishonoured, a shameful past will be revealed and yet there is one great hope for reconciliation and the future.