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Gisela (Gigi) Sedlmayer was born on 19 May 1944 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin in Germany.
Her family escaped to the West just before the infamous wall went up. They moved around in Germany until finally settling in Munich where Gigi studied architectural drafting and met Albert in 1965, marrying in December 1967. She worked as a civil drafts person in various private consultancies in Munich.
Since her uncle was a writer, she tried to write short animal stories herself. Nothing further came of it, but she developed a love for the written word and started to consume books.
In May 1975, Gigi and her husband moved to New Zealand. Because of language challenges, she started a handcraft business. As a specialty, she made colourful parrots of which she sold thousands in a few years.
In 1988, they decided to adopt and became adoptive parents of twin girls the year after. They lived in New Zealand for eighteen years and moved to Australia in September 1992.
Two years later Gigi was diagnosed with cancer. After operations and radiation, she withdrew, thinking that she would probably soon be dead, like her friend who died of cancer, but her two little girls gave her the courage to keep going. After two years, her brain started to work again, so she thought, ‘do something good with your life’.
Albert taught her how to use a computer and she wrote many short stories, one of them was the Talon series.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Talon, Come Fly with Me: The Talon Series, Book 1 is a preteen and young adult adventure novel written by Gigi Sedlmayer. Being nearly ten years old and having the body of a two-year-old has not been without its challenges for Matica, especially since the Indians in the little village of Pucara in Peru, where she and her family live, are not at all comfortable with her and have forbidden their children to play with her. While she was born in Australia, she’s been living there with her missionary parents and her younger brother, Aikon, since she was four years old. Matica loves the village, but she wishes she could have friends like her little brother does. Her interest in birds leads her to admire the Andean condors who have decided to stay in the nearby mountains. She goes out to her special place to see them every day and even takes a dead lizard, when she or Aikon can find one, to toss up to the big male condor. Then one day he lands in a nearby tree to meet her. It is a momentous experience for both Matica and the huge, intelligent bird who almost seems to understand what she says -- a life-changing one.
Gigi Sedlmayer's young adult coming of age novel, Talon, Come Fly with Me: The Talon Series, Book 1, is a moving and unforgettable story about a lonely girl's friendship with an Andean condor. The author does a fabulous job of recreating the little village of Pucara and the surrounding natural areas for her readers, and her characters are finely drawn and authentic. Matica is a grand main character and watching as she summons up the courage to meet her Tamo, the adult male condor she befriends, is a remarkable thing indeed. I could feel her fear and apprehension as she devises plans to foil the intentions of the animal smugglers who are determined to steal the condor pair's egg, and cheered along with her as she finally sees a benefit to her special stature. Talon, Come Fly with Me: The Talon Series, Book 1 is most highly recommended.
