Like many, I was astonished when I read Elizabeth Harrower's The watchtower (my review), upon its publication by Text Classics in 2012. Astonished not so much for its writing, though that is excellent, but for its subject, which is what we'd now call coercive control. The astonishment comes from the fact that The watchtower was … Continue reading Helen Trinca, Looking for Elizabeth: The life of Elizabeth Harrower (#BookReview)
Review – Biographies
Sean Doyle, Australia’s trail-blazing first novelist: John Lang (#BookReview)
Sean Doyle's literary biography, Australia's trail-blazing first novelist: John Lang, provides insights not only into this "idiosyncratic" man, but into two colonial societies - Australia and India - through the early to mid nineteenth-century. Doyle's is not the first biography of John Lang, but it's the first I've read. However, Lang (1816-64) himself is not … Continue reading Sean Doyle, Australia’s trail-blazing first novelist: John Lang (#BookReview)
Anna Funder, Wifedom (#BookReview)
Anna Funder's Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's invisible life is a book with a mission, a mission that is implied in its full title. That mission is to examine the notion of "wifedom", and the way patriarchy works to construct it, through the example of the invisible - or, as Funder also calls it, erased - life … Continue reading Anna Funder, Wifedom (#BookReview)
Nell Stevens, Mrs Gaskell and me: To women, two love stories, two centuries apart (#BookReview)
It's a bit of a stretch, I admit, to submit Nell Stevens' strange hybrid biography-memoir, Mrs Gaskell and me, as my second contribution to Bill's (The Australian Legend) Gen 0. But, having read Elizabeth Gaskell's two novellas, Lizzie Leigh and Cousin Phillis, for the week, and having had Stevens' book on my TBR for a … Continue reading Nell Stevens, Mrs Gaskell and me: To women, two love stories, two centuries apart (#BookReview)
Gabrielle Carey, Only happiness here: In search of Elizabeth von Arnim (#BookReview)
I discovered Elizabeth von Arnim (nee Mary Annette Beauchamp, 1866-1941) back in the 1990s when Virago republished her first novel, Elizabeth and her German garden. Published in 1898, this novel, writes Gabrielle Carey, was an immediate hit, turning her, almost overnight, into one of England's favourite authors. It was certainly a revelation to me. I … Continue reading Gabrielle Carey, Only happiness here: In search of Elizabeth von Arnim (#BookReview)
Jane Sinclair, Shy love smiles and acid drops (#BookReview)
Jane Sinclair's hybrid biography-memoir, Shy love smiles and acid drops: Letters from a difficult marriage, is an unusual book. Covering around two years in her parents' life, this book comprises, mostly, letters sent between her parents between April 1960 and July 1962 when Sinclair and her mother were in England while her father remained in … Continue reading Jane Sinclair, Shy love smiles and acid drops (#BookReview)
Cindy Solonec, Debesa: The story of Frank and Katie Rodriguez (#BookReview)
Cindy Solonec's Debesa is one of those curious hybrid biography-memoirs that are appearing on the scene. Its subtitle describes it as The story of Frank and Katie Rodriguez, implying biography, but in fact, Frank and Katie are Solonec's parents and so the book also incorporates some of her own story as part of the family. … Continue reading Cindy Solonec, Debesa: The story of Frank and Katie Rodriguez (#BookReview)
Erik Jensen, On Kate Jennings (Writers on writers) (#BookReview)
It took Kate Jennings' death for me to finally pick up one of Black Inc's Writers on writers books, Erik Jensen's On Kate Jennings. The series, says Black Inc, involves leading authors reflecting "on an Australian writer who has inspired and influenced them". It continues, "Provocative and crisp, these books start a fresh conversation between … Continue reading Erik Jensen, On Kate Jennings (Writers on writers) (#BookReview)
Desley Deacon, Judith Anderson: Australian star, First Lady of the American stage (#BookReview)
When historian Desley Deacon offered me her biography of Dame Judith Anderson for review, I was a little reticent because my review copies were getting out of hand. Little did I know then what was in store for me, and just how much more behind I would become. However, finally, its turn came, and here … Continue reading Desley Deacon, Judith Anderson: Australian star, First Lady of the American stage (#BookReview)
Jessica White, Hearing Maud (#BookReview)
Hybrid memoir-biographies take many forms. For a start, some are weighted more to biography while others more to memoir. As I wrote in my post on Jessica White's conversation with Inga Simpson, most of those I've read "have been mother-daughter stories, the biography being about the mother and the memoir, the daughter. White’s book is … Continue reading Jessica White, Hearing Maud (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 