Australian Author
Peter John Prior
Author of the Long Grass Trilogy
A storyteller shaped by the outback, boarding school days and a lifetime of memory. Discover the true story of a fortunate childhood in Australia's Long Grass Country.
About Peter
Peter Prior became a letter writer, like his mother, at the age of eight in 1967. His first letter was to his grandfather. He used his best writing with big round letters, because he knew his grandfather used a large magnifying glass to read with. His grandfather responded two weeks later with a two-page letter, and he included a brand new $20 note.
Over the years, his letter writing evolved into short stories especially when he was at boarding school and in his early adult years. At the age of twenty-four, he sat down at a typewriter to see if he could write a book. His mother was impressed, but after a few years, he felt his work lacked life experience, so he put his typewriter away and got himself a life.
Thirty years later, he sat down at a keyboard and allowed his fingers to do the talking. Long Grass Calling: A Fortunate Childhood was born, and the Long Grass trilogy was conceived. His mother was impressed and thanked him for giving her back her memories of her children as children. She was eighty-four years old.
Long Grass Calling: A Fortunate Childhood was written over a three-year period from 2014 – 2016 followed by the second book, Long Grass Burning: George – My Father.
In 2018 Peter put his work on hold for five years to assist in his mother’s care as she aged. He did not return to his writing until July 2023, two and a half years after his mother’s death.
The second book was completed six months later in January 2024. After some consideration, he decided to submit his work to Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Publishers Ltd of Cambridge, England for an appraisal. Something he had never done before. He had never submitted his work to anyone for publication. The Submissions Editor responded sixteen days later asking him to be patient as she was forwarding his work for a full review. Three weeks later the Commissioning Editor contacted Peter, informing him that his work was “well written and should sell well in the marketplace.” In doing so she attached a contract for the publication of a Hard Copy, Paperback and eBook with a possible extension to include an audio book at a later date.
Out Now
Long Grass Calling: A Fortunate Childhood
Long Grass Calling is the first instalment in the Long Grass Trilogy, a sweeping true story spanning two families and the entire twentieth century, from the Mallee drought of 1895 through two world wars, the Great Depression and beyond.
Peter describes the precious moments of his childhood in the Northern Territory, Australia; the north of which he describes as “Long Grass Country.”
Growing up with six other siblings, he recalls their daily struggles as they join in building their lives and a home, each by contributing to daily chores from sunrise to sunset, like clockwork. Their lives slowly start to transform when they begin attending a boarding school. When it is Peter’s turn, he faces new challenges alone.
The family’s spirit is never broken through hardship, until a tropical cyclone destroys their home on Christmas in 1974. They barely survive. Everything they built is destroyed.
Delivered in such a powerful orchestration of words that will transport you to twentieth century Australia, Long Grass Calling is a rapt journey into the “old is gold.”
"Can you see my mother? Yes! That's right. The petite young lady walking along the dirt footpath, her head slightly down, as if she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. Can you see the crow high in the tree on the other side of the road, watching over her?"
The Long Grass Trilogy
This story captures the life and times of two families, spanning the entire 20th Century. Two families that become tragically yet intimately connected from the late 1890’s to 2010.
From the great drought in the Mallee County of Victoria in 1895 to the development of a new farm in the Wheat Belt of Western Australia in the early 1900’s followed by the Great War to end all wars. From the Somme on the Western Front to the Great Depression followed by World War 2.
It is the story of several great love affairs, some forbidden. Banished from England to the other side of the world. Spurned, because a Bishops daughter could not possibly love a farmer’s labourer. A love that would produce six children and many more great love affairs.
“Poppy – the daughter of a digger” and “A Fortunate Childhood” captures the life of my parents as children and as a married couple following a twenty-year courtship that endures the test of time including one of Australia’s greatest natural disasters – Cyclone Tracy, while “George - my father” takes the reader inside the tormented mind of a husband and father determined to revolutionise his family through education, changing it for the better forever.
Book 1: 1946 - 1975
Long Grass Calling: A Fortunate Childhood
- Publication Date : 29 January 2026
- Pages: 280
- ISBN: 978-1-83794-865-9
[ COMING SOON ]
Book 2: 1975 - 2010
Long Grass Burning: George, My Father
[ COMING SOON ]
Book 3: 1895 - 1946
Poppy: The Daughter of a Digger
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TITLE | Long Grass Calling: A Fortunate Childhood |
PUBLICATION DATE: | 29 January 2026 |
PAGES | 280 |
ISBN | 978-1-83794-865-9 |
Contact Peter
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