Moving Among Strangers by Gabrielle Carey

Writing regularly blog posts seems to be something quite beyond right now. But thanks to Karen @Booker Talk I've be revisiting some of my older posts to find fresh inspiration. This post about the rather silent author, Randolph Stow, was originally published on the 29th August 2015.

I've been thinking about Gabrielle Carey a lot, over the past 24 hrs, after learning that she has a new book coming out in October with University of Queensland Press about Elizabeth von Armin called Only Happiness Here. 

Her website explains that von Armin has been one of her literary passions for quite some time, and like me, Carey is amazed that this Australian born writer (along with her cousin, Katherine Mansfield) is so little known and appreciated here. 

New Zealander's have done a much better job of being loud and proud about Mansfield. Admittedly, von Armin only lived in Australia for the first three years of her life (whereas Mansfield grew up in NZ before moving permanently to Europe). But given our tendency to claim famous folk with far less tenuous links than that, it's curious that we have been so silent on our relationship with von Armin.

I want to know more about the friendship and authorial support that existed between von Armin and Mansfield and how they influenced each other. And I'm keen to find out why Carey is so fascinated by von Armin. Weaving together the biography of an author with her own personal reflections was one of the things I really enjoyed about her Randolph Stow book. 

It has stayed with me for five years now. 

Given how many books pass through my hands each year, for one to stick in my memory so clearly, says something about the strength of the story within, as well as it's ability to get under my skin.

So I give you a slightly revised and updated look at my 2015 post for Moving Among Strangers.

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Honouring Randolph Stow event at the NSW Library.

The Honouring series is the brainchild of my friend Julia Tsalis, the Program Manager at the NSW Writers Centre. 

On their website she says:

Sometimes we forget about the great when revelling in the new. In its annual Honouring Australian Writers series, the NSW Writers’ Centre pays tribute to writers who have made an important contribution to our literary culture.  

In 2015 we turn to the West Australian writer Randolph Stow. Perhaps best known for The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea and To The Islands, which won the Miles Franklin Award, Australian Literary Society Gold Medal and the Melbourne Book Fair Award in 1958. He was also awarded the ALS Gold Medal for his poetry in 1957 and won the Patrick White Award in 1979.  

A writer fond of silence, known for the metaphysical and existential qualities of his writing but also a master at evoking the Australian landscape, Randolph Stow embodied contradictions. Geordie Williamson, says of him in The Burning Library, ‘In him, as in no other non-indigenous writer in our literature, landscape and mindscape are one.’  

Honouring: Randolph Stow brings together Gabrielle Carey, author of Moving Among Strangers a memoir about her family’s connection to Stow, Suzanne Falkiner whose biography will be released in 2016, Richard Tipping a poet and producer of a documentary on Stow, and West Australian author Alice Nelson (The Last Sky) whose career has been inspired by him.

In preparation for the event, I read Gabrielle Carey's Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family.

Carey's award winning book is a curious, but very pleasing mix of family memoir and grief journal as well as a homage to little known Australian author and poet, Randolph 'Mick' Stow.

I say little known, because when I told family, friends and colleagues (yes, even colleagues!) where I was going today. Only a couple of them had heard of Stow.

My relationship with Stow is not much better. I've only read one of his books and that was his children's story about Midnite, the not-so-bright bushranger and his talking cat. The talking cat put me off too much to ever really enjoy it properly though!

But, like Carey, I do seem to have this fascination for Australia's long lost, forgotten authors.

I'm curious about why we, as a nation, do not seem to celebrate, embrace or cherish our award winning, highly acclaimed authors.

Their childhood homes do not become museums.

No "so and so was born here" plaques pop up on suburban streets and rarely do they have university or school wings named after them. They're lucky to have a street named in their honour!

Carey echoes my concerns in her book when she reminds us that:

Other countries seem to be able to preserve significant writers' houses - why are there so few in Australia?

However, after the Honouring Randolph Stow event today, I wonder if part of this lack of recognition starts with the authors themselves.

All four panelists spoke of Stow's famous silence.

Suzanne called it his "authorial invisibility". 

Richard told us how Stow had said, "writers are writers because they're not talkers." 

And Alice quoted poet Louise Gluck's "eloquent deliberate silence" to describe Stow's personality.

Meanwhile Carey's tender memoir is an endless parade of Stow's reticence and quietness which she sums up towards the end by saying,

Stow's silence doesn't appear to have been an unfriendly one. His temperament and philosophical bent both point towards a faith in silence and deep doubt about language.

 

This is not someone searching for the limelight or to have his name forever blazoned across the skies. His story writing and poetry were personal, they were part of his search for home. Home, for Stow, was not one house or place either.

Maybe we don't need to make a fuss about his childhood home or where he went to school, except of course, there is no denying, that it is these things, these places of our childhoods that shape us is so many ways, consciously and unconsciously.

Stow himself also said (in reference to Joseph Conrad) that "I think one does need to know a great deal - well, a certain amount, anyway, about an author's life...and not only what he chooses to have known."
(my highlight).

So, what have I learnt about Stow in the past week?

He could speak and read about five languages, he was fascinated by the Batavia wreck (so much so that he taught himself to read Old Dutch so he could research the source materials), he loved to read Conrad and Joyce and he 'wrote' his books in his head whilst walking and only physically wrote them down once he had it complete in his head. Sadly, he had two such books in his head when he died. 

Stow also had an incredibly mellifluous voice (not unlike Princes Charles but with an Australian undertone) that we heard thanks to the resurrecting of Richard Tipping's interview with Stow from the 1988 film A Country of Islands. More than preserving old homes and the placing of plaques, we need to ensure that archival films and interviews like this are conserved for future reference. The 8 minute excerpt we heard today was one of the highlights of a stimulating afternoon.

I look forward to reading one of Stow's adult novels (now republished by Text Publishing) or seeing one on the big screen soon. I also highly recommend Carey's memoir for those who love their family memoirs and author biographies entwined in a happy embrace.

• The 2020 Honouring Event will be for Katherine Susannah Prichard on the 22nd August.
• Carey also has a biography about Ivan Southall called Falling Out of Love With Ivan Southall that sounds intriguing.

Rockhopping by Trace Balla

Rockhopping is Trace Balla's follow up book to Rivertime with Clancy and Uncle Egg once again getting ready to head off an eco-adventure.

I love these books a lot.

I love their gentle pace and laid back attitudes.

I love their environmental credentials and back to nature ethos.

I love their attention to details.

I love their emphasis on problem solving, responsibility and being capable.

I love their zen-like, go with the flow, be in the moment philosophy.

But most of all I love how these books remind us that we are all a part of nature. Our natural environment is affected by our interactions with it whether we live in the city or the country.

As Balla says in the Teacher's Notes produced by her publisher, Allen & Unwin,

When you stop trying to get anywhere and just be, a whole world of wonder can open up to you. And when you stop going with a plan and follow the flow, you may find a world of unexpected opportunities revealing themselves to you. The more you look the more you find out. It’s also about realising we are part of the natural world, rather than separate to it, and that we are not alone, but surrounded by other life. Themes of growing up and realising what we are capable of are also explored.

Rockhopping is also respectful to the indigenous tribes of The Grampians (Gariwerd) in Victoria. Balla uses traditional names and common names for places as well as referring to aspects of Aboriginal culture throughout the book.

Commonsense, logic and thorough preparation are also applauded. There is a page of items that Clancy and Egg collected before they went off on their adventure. Practical handy survival tips are interwoven into the story at various points.

Balla adds an historical perspective to one of the sections. Day five shows a timeline with Clancy and Uncle Egg discussing the value of a good walking stick on a big bushwalk. The timeline then shows the same stick being used by a logger, a goldminer, a Chinese market gardener, a squatter and a Jardwadjali woman to dig.

Several trips to the region were integrated into ongoing discussions with local indigenous elders which helped Balla ensure that the local knowledge was authentic and up to date.

Balla received lots of support from local elders. She said in an interview on Reading Time that,

Milipiri Elder Wanta Jampijimpa has given me encouragement to keep doing these stories, that he says are about ‘reading country” and giving hope. Renowned environmental educator David Suzuki has also given me encouragement about my books inspiring kids to be in nature. These two elders encouragement points to passing on wisdom that we often lose sight of in our modern, often urban culture.

Rockhopping has been shortlisted for this years CBCA Younger Readers award.

Hold by Kirsten Tranter

I love reading books set in places that I know well.

I love that feeling of being connected and in the know. It makes the story feel more personal - almost like the book was written just for me.

Tranter used to live in the Inner West of Sydney but now works as a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley teaching creative writing.

Hold is her third novel.

One of my good friends, Girl Booker, raved about The Legacy (Tranter's first book) so much and for so long, that when A Common Loss was published, we both felt compelled to read it straight away.

Sadly, four years later I remember very little about the story except that I liked it and was excited to know that Tranter was writing another. However, a few years ago, I asked GB to write a guest post about her favourite Australian books...and Tranter's books made the cut.

GB's "swirly, dreamlike world" description is still spot on - it captures Tranter's writing style in all three books. There's a sense of floating along or being immersed in Hold that is quite hypnotic, almost sensual.

Grief and loss are her main themes once again. Tranter creates a tantalising dance between grieving and holding. All the ways to hold and be held pervade the story. As well as their opposite idea - how to let go.

Tranter keeps us guessing as to the true nature of her story - is it a ghost story? a mystery? a romance?

Whatever else it might be, Hold is definitely a love letter to this city - the beaches, the terrace houses, the huge figs trees - even the fruits bats and cockroaches! Set during a hot, humid summery spell in Sydney, we feel the heat, smell the dusty, smoky city and long for the cool sea breeze just like Shelley, our protagonist.

I loved the day to day details that made this book so real even as Tranter threw us off course with secrets, dreams and fantasies.

Contemporary Australian fiction to get lost in.

The Fortunes of Richard Mahony - Ultima Thule

I made it!

The 941st page of The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson is read, lamented and sighed over.

Not quite in the #AusReadingMonth time frame I originally set out, but a run of bad headaches and vertigo got in the way at the end.

Unlike poor Richard Mahony though, my brain has returned to normal working order.

What an epic tragedy is the life and times of Mahony and Polly.

In true Dickensian style we see the rise and fall, rise and fall of Mahony's fortunes. Randomness and displacement the common themes each time. Right to the bitter end, dear Polly is still frustrated by the "dear warm incompetent human creature at whose side she had been through so much."

Even though his troubles were mostly of his own making. For he had always asked for more of life than it could give: and if, for once, he got what he wanted, he had not known how to sit fast and hold it: so the end was the poor old wreck on the bed before her.

Although all three stories follow the life and times of Richard Mahony, the books are really about Polly, or Mary as we must call her for most of the story. From her shy, insecure beginnings as a young wife, Mary blossoms and grows strong. She stands before all obstacles, she rises to each challenge and faces down all adversity. She is endlessly patient, determined and practical. Mary is open, friendly and warm-hearted to Mahony's secretive, insular ways. She is rational in the face of Mahony's wild dreams and fantasies.

Richardson also shows us how she is shackled by the conventions of the time - about what is right and proper for women to do or not do. Mary accepts these conventions as well but works within these boundaries as best she can.

Richardson's own father died when she was but nine years of age (just like Cuffy) whilst her mother was running the local post office at Koroit, Victoria.

One suspects that many of the feelings and agonies subscribed to Cuffy were Richardson's reliving of this painful, difficult period of their lives. Ultima Thule has all the agonies and peculiarities of a memoir. Like Richardson, Cuffy is given musical talents. He is a difficult child, deeply private and circumspect at a young age. Curious, bright and deeply traumatised by his father's illness and decline. I would love to now read a biography about Richardson to draw the parallels that are obviously on display here.

Koroit Post Office

Interesting, the Koroit Post Office that was built in 1872, which housed Richardson and her family for two years, still exists. Richardson father was buried in nearby Tower Hill Cemetery. A brass plaque on the wall states that Richardson lived here.

Another place that still exists from Richardson's childhood is Lake View House at Chilton. In Ultima Thule, Chilton is called Barambogie. Sadly, their time here was the beginning of the end for their father's health and their fortunes, as it was too for Richard Mahony.

Lake View

Lake View was preserved by local enthusiasts until the National Trust stepped in to take over running the site in 1970 - 100 years after Richardson's birth.

Blanche Terrace, 179 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy (below) is also heritage listed. Built between 1866 - 67, it was Ethel Richardson's birthplace.

The Fortunes of Richard Mahony is an heroic saga that takes us on a character-driven psychological journey through mid 1800's Victoria as well as through the trials and tribulations of one family. It is an emotional, epic and fascinating read, populated by a full cast of well-drawn personalities. It questions the spiritual, intellectual and societal mores of the times. It highlights women's issues, the effects of poverty and mental health problems, the search for home and belonging and the meaning of life.

I'm so glad that I have taken this time to read this classic Australian novel.
The story of Mahony and Mary will stay with me for a very long time (which is just as well, because I don't know if I will ever have the courage to reread it!)
But read it once, you must.

My Australia Felix post is here.
The Way Home is here.

Also reviewed by Me, You and Books.
This post is part of my Australian Women Writers challenge.

The Reef: A Passionate History by Iain McCalman

The Reef: A Passionate History does exactly as its cover promises - it delivers 12 'extraordinary tales' about Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The only thing it missed to my mind, was a thirteenth chapter where McCalman included some of the local Indigenous tribes stories about the reef. There must be Dreamtime stories, rock paintings and oral traditions that could have been unearthed for such a chapter.

The majority of Indigenous stories in this book about life on the reef only existed through the lens of the white explorers and settlers - they only appeared as helpers or hindrances to the white exploration and discovery process.

Sadly perhaps, this is all that is available to the modern researcher. Whatever the reason, the Aboriginal perspective was missed.

The reefs story begins with Captain Cook's 'discovery' and end in modern times with Charlie Vernon, Chief Marine Scientist who has predicted an imminent 'reef apocalypse'. The book is full of fascinating snippets about the history, geography, biology, geology, politics, sociology, psychology, ecology and environmental aspects of the reef.

However, the truly disturbing chapter is the last one that highlights Vernon's findings on coral bleaching. He observed his first patch of coral bleaching in the early 80's, quickly followed by the first global mass bleaching event on 1981-82. The next major mass bleaching occurred in 1997-98 and an even worse one occurred in 2001-02. As it turns out,

reef-growing corals, which seemed peculiarly susceptible to increases in heat and light, were alerting scientists to climatic changes....

These damaged corals are capable of regeneration if water temperature returns to normal and water quality remains good, but the frequency and intensity of bleaching outbreaks is now such that the percentage of reef loss from coral deaths will increase dramatically....

[Reefs] are complex data banks that record evidence of environmental changes from millions of years ago up to the present. Imprinted in fossil typography are the stories of the mass-extinction events of the geological past, including their likely causes. These archives tell us that four out of the five previous mass extinctions of coral reefs on our planet were linked to the carbon cycle. They were caused by changes to the ocean's chemistry brought about by absorption of carbon dioxide and methane, through a process of 'acidification'.

Today's culprits are the same gases - carbon dioxide and methane - though their increased presence is not due to massive meteor strikes of volcanic eruptions that caused earlier catastrophes....

Already the oceans...have reached a third of their capacity to soak them up and balance them chemically. Stealthily, the oceans of the world have begun the process that scientists call 'commitment', which in this case refers to the 'unstoppable inevitability' of acidification that presages destruction long before it is clearly visible.

Sorry for the long quote, but I knew I couldn't trust myself to paraphrase all of that as precisely as McCalman did.

It has had a profound impact on me.

By 2050, the coral reefs could be melting into the waters like a 'giant antacid tablet' heralding an unstoppable 'succession of ecosystem disasters'. The point of no return is close at hand and the only real hope we have is that some of the key micro-organisms like plankton, algae and polyps evolve fast enough to become resilient to this new threat to their environment (and ours) or that the pattern of mass extinction doesn't follow that of the previous five.

It is a tragedy to think that this beautiful area of the world could disappear forever (or at least for enough lifetimes to make it seem like forever). And it is impossible to imagine what other changes this loss will incur.

We visited the area around the Low Isles 18 months ago, not long after a cyclone had battered the coral. Our youngest had control of the hired underwater camera; he took some beautiful photos despite the obvious damage all around us.

This post is part of #AusReadingMonth and #NonFicNov

Rivertime by Trace Balla

Shortlisted for this year's CBCA Picture Book of the Year, Rivertime is a gentle, meandering story that celebrates connections and nature.

Balla spent ten days with her partner paddling 80km of the Glenelg River one summer. She kept a journal and sketched her experiences of the trip which then formed the basis for this story and its illustrations.

Done in the style of a graphic novel with easy to read speech bubbles, we follow Uncle Egg and Clancy on their boy's own adventure paddling up the river with no technology (except for a pair of binoculars) and no schedule.

I loved the gentle pace of this story and how you gradually slip into 'rivertime' yourself as you read along, stopping to take note of all the details and information included on each page.

Balla has infused the story with respect. From the relationships of the main characters with each other, to respect for the environment and the local Indigenous tribes. This is a book full of heart and wonder and care.

The end papers are full of nature-loving pictures - the front showing off all the bird life to be found in the area - and the back featuring animals, reptiles, fish and plants.

The illustrations are simple line drawings, coloured with an earthy palette. Most of the pages include lots of animals and plants for you to find and name.

Suitable to be read aloud to 4+ nature lovers, but perfect for primary school aged children to enjoy too. Covering many of the themes required by the Australian Curriculum including self-discovery, exploring, learning new skills, perseverance, bonding, appreciating nature and taking notice.

Miles Off Course by Sulari Gentill

Miles Off Course is the third book in the Rowland Sinclair series.

This delightful series set in 1930's Sydney has become my go-to read when feeling overwhelmed and tired.

With a move in the offing on top of our regular crazy-busy life-work schedule, a comfort read was definitely required this past week.

Miles Off Course filled the bill beautifully as our four dashing young things took us on a trip around NSW - first to Medlow Bath's Hydro Majestic, then to Yass, on up into the wild high country around Tumut, before returning to Sydney in all it's 1930's glory.

All the main characters are now firmly established and it is a delight to just sit back and watch them do their thing. It was surprising to meet an unexpected half-brother of the Sinclair boys and great fun watching Stella Miles Franklin run around the high country incognito, interacting with our lovely young things.

For devotee's of Rowly and Edna's romantic prospects, this book also offers us a glimmer of hope.

This is not the best of the series so far, but as a stress-free, easy read for tired out little old me, it was perfect.


This post is part of my Australian Women Writers challenge and another book off my 20 Books of Winter.

The Great World by David Malouf

Rereading a book after 18 yrs is a very interesting experience. It's almost like reading it again for the first time.

This has certainly been the case for me and The Great World.

Thanks to the fact that I write my name, date and place of purchase on the inside cover of all my books I know roughly when I read it. The date inside my copy of The Great World is 22nd Dec 1997, Randwick.

That was back in my teaching days. My sister lived in Coogee for a few years. Every school holidays during those years I would plan a brief visit. I'd spend some time lazing on the beach, catch a movie or two, eat out somewhere exotic and enjoy some shopping. Over summer, in particular, I made sure I had enough books on hand for the 5 week break ahead of me.

I read The Great World for the first time in the summer of 1998. I was still in my twenties (just) and the main thing I remember 18 yrs later is that this book had a profound impact on me. It also led to a long-standing literary love affair with David Malouf.

Before I started it again recently I tried to recall what was it that I remembered so clearly and profoundly. I quickly realised that I had no idea about the plot or characters. I had a vague idea that it was about one of the wars and friendship. The impact lay in the writing.

I was impressed (and at times overwhelmed) by the intelligence of Malouf's writing. His ability to describe an everyday emotion or thought so that you could grasp it yourself blew me away. There was nuance and complexity and humanity. And at times I struggled to keep up.

I was therefore excited and a little daunted to be starting this book again.

The opening line hooked me though. I read it a couple of times and thought, this is what makes a great book - a heart-stopping, breath-catching, let-me-read-that-again beginning.

People are not always kind, but the kind thing to say about Jenny was that she was simple.

Straight away I was reminded of why I loved Malouf's writing.
I couldn't remember who Jenny was, but suddenly I remembered that this was a book about kindness, suffering and what makes us, unites us and divides us as human beings.
This was a big picture story told through the lens of a few specific characters that I was about to get to know again.

The Great World is a war story - WWII and Changi. It is about friendships - the kind that last for ever, the kind that surprise, the kind that develop thanks to circumstances. It is about suffering - inflicted by others and that inflicted on ourselves. And it is about kindness in all it's guises.

The connections, or threads, that link us to each other, to our memories, to our shared histories and even to our future selves are all explored.

My reread was much easier than I remember the first, but my literary love for Malouf remains unchanged. I only wish I had more time to reread his entire backlist a
gain!

The Great World won the Miles Franklin Award in 1991
I read this book as part of my Classics Club challenge and ccspin #9.

A-Z of Convicts in Van Dieman's Land by Simon Barnard

The CBCA shortlist is a good way for schools and libraries to stock up on good quality Australian non-fiction.

The A-Z of Convicts fits this bill beautifully. Presented in an oversized hardback book with generous illustrations loaded with details, A-Z of Convicts packs in a lot of interesting information.

Barnard covers every conceivable convict topic from absconders to prostitution, bushrangers to tattoos. He explores their jobs, work conditions, punishments, how they lived and spent their leisure time.

The illustrations are based on records from the time. Barnard has included the convicts physical features (height, hair colour, tattoos etc) as described on their official records .

He also uses architectural plans to show cut-out diorama's of the ships, buildings & rooms common to this world.

The pages have an old-style look, but the actual pictures are crips, clean and easy to pour over. There is a glossary, a table of weights and measures and an extensive bibliography at the back.

Barnard grew up in Launceston, Tasmania. He obviously feels a close connection to his islands' history as this book has all the markings of a labour of love.

Suitable for 8+ readers, although some of the information will be better suited to an older age group.

Stand Up and Cheer by Loretta Re

One of the many pleasures of being a bookseller, is meeting the authors and attending their book launches.

I've known about this little gem based on real life events in Albury, NSW for a while now.

Loretta lives locally and a year or so ago, she popped into our bookshop to discuss publication options and, eventually, cover design options.

Due to the regional nature of her story, Re's manuscript was rejected by several major publishers. In the end, her friend, Juliet, from The Wild Colonial Company, decided to publish it for her.

This week we had the Sydney launch of Stand Up and Cheer (the Albury launch was October last year). Juliet & author Sue Woolfe introduced Loretta and her book to a packed house, followed by the usual festivities and book signings.

Stand Up and Cheer is dear to my heart because Mr Books grew up in Albury & the story of the Dutch plane, Uiver's sudden landing in Albury in 1934 during the great round the world air race is a well-known town tale.

Even though we already knew how the story ended, Re created a lovely piece of tense writing that had me on the edge of my seat!

This is a small country town story, but its heart encompasses the whole world.

A truly great book, with a message worth saying, will transcend its setting. Stand Up and Cheer does this by emboding the universal themes of courage (physical & moral), friendship & innovation.

It's well-written, with oodles of great details that reflect just how much research time Re put into this book. The inside covers include photographs from the time & the end notes reveal the impact the abrupt landing had on the Netherlands as well.

A thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing tale for mature 9+ readers & for plane enthusiasts & Biggles lovers of any age the world over!

A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill

A Decline in Prophets is book 2 in the Rowland Sinclair series which has now become my gentle crime/comfort read of choice!

Set in Sydney during the 1930's, it's full of art deco, political & cultural references, 4 central loveable characters & in book 2 - a Cary Grant sighting! What's not to love?

This time we see Rowly and his friends enjoying life on the high seas.

Time in Europe has helped them to recover from their run-in with the New Guard in Sydney before they left town (see my review of book 1 here) but before too long they are caught up in a new mystery.

A crime wave hits the RMS Aquitania - murder, theft and mysterious 'accidents' - with Rowly right in the middle of it all!

Real life events and people are woven seamlessly into the story, with appearances by Annie Besant & Charles Leadbeater of the Theosophical Society, the aforesaid, Cary Grant during their New York stop-over and Norman Lindsay hosting one of his famous soirée's in the Blue Mountains.

Gentill has created a delightful, easy to read series complete with gorgeous covers. Do yourself and favour & give one a go - you'll be pleasantly surprised.

This post is part of my Australian Women Writers challenge.

J is for Elizabeth Jolley

Monica Elizabeth Knight was born in Birmingham, England on the 4th June 1923.
She was privately tutored at home until age 11, before being sent to a Quaker school in Banbury for her highschool years. By all accounts, her childhood was not a particularly happy one.

She then trained as an orthopaedic nurse in London. It was here that she met and fell in love with one of her patients - Leonard Jolley (1914 -1994) who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. When Leonard was transferred to Birmingham as a librarian, Monica followed. Unfortunately he was already married to Joyce.

In a bizarre romantic triangle, both women fell pregnant to Leonard at the same time. Elizabeth even moved in with Leonard & Joyce for a while. 
Her daughter, Sarah was born in 1946, 5 weeks before Joyce's daughter, Susan. 
Joyce was told that Elizabeth's daughter was fathered by a doctor dying of TB.

In 1950 Leonard left Joyce & secretly married Elizabeth. They had another two children, Richard and Ruth.

In 1959 they emigrated to Australia with their three children. They settled in Claremont, Perth where Leonard was appointed chief librarian at the University of Western Australia.

Curiously Leonard told his English family that he had emigrated with Joyce & Susan. Elizabeth helped maintain the ruse by writing to the family as Joyce!

Elizabeth began writing in early twenties, but had nothing published until 1976.

In the late 70's she began teaching at Curtin University (or WA Institute of Technology as it was called then). Her most well-known student was Tim Winton.

Elizabeth Jolley (courtesy SMH)

Elizabeth developed dementia in 2000 & died in 2007.

Andrew Reimer:  "Jolley could assume any one of several personas – the little old lady, the Central European intellectual, the nurse, the orchardist, the humble wife, the university teacher, the door-to-door salesperson – at the drop of a hat, usually choosing one that would disconcert her listeners, but hold them in fascination as well."

Susan Swingler:  "It was one lie leading to another, you do one thing to deceive and then how do you undo it. It snowballs and accumulates until it gets so big that you can't stop it."

Drusilla Modjeska:  "Her novels are so deftly entangled with the material of her life that she has both laid out the terrain and erected a very effective shield."

Romona Koval:  "She wrote about lesbians and surrogate mothers, murder and rape, incest and adultery. Her characters were nurses and loners and cleaning ladies. She was drawn to stories of family misunderstandings."

Novels

• Palomino (1980)
• The Newspaper of Claremont Street (1981)
• Miss Peabody's Inheritance (1983)
• Mr Scobie's Riddle (1983)                     Winner Age Book of the Year
• Milk and Honey (1984)                Winner NSW Premier’s Literary Award (Christina Stead Prize for Fiction)
• Foxybaby (1985)
• The Well (1986)                      Winner of the Miles Franklin Award
• The Sugar Mother (1988)
• My Father's Moon (1989)                   Winner Age Book of the Year
• Cabin Fever (1990)
• The Georges' Wife (1993)                    Winner Age Book of the Year
• The Orchard Thieves (1995)
• Lovesong (1997)
• An Accommodating Spouse (1999)



Portrait of Elizabeth Jolley by Peter Kendall 1986

• An Innocent Gentleman (2001)

Short stories and plays

• Five Acre Virgin and Other Stories (1976)
• The Well-Bred Thief (1977)
• The Travelling Entertainer and Other Stories (1979)
• Woman in a Lampshade (1983)
• Off the Air: Nine Plays for Radio (1995)
• Fellow Passengers: Collected Stories of Elizabeth Jolley (1997)

Non-fiction

• Central Mischief: Elizabeth Jolley on Writing, Her Past and Herself (1992)
• Diary of a Weekend Farmer (1993)
• Learning to Dance: Elizabeth Jolley: Her Life and Work (2006)

Biographies

Doing LIfe by Brian Dibble (2008) 
The House of Fiction by Susan Swingler (2012)

Order of Australia for Services to the Arts (1988)
Elizabeth was made a Professor of Creative Writing at Curtin University in 1998.

My one and only Jolley novel is The Orchard Thieves.

I fell in love with the cover and impulse bought it based on the promise of a story about a family of sisters (I'm one of four sisters).

But I struggled to get into it. I struggled to connect to any of the characters & I failed to fall into Jolley's writing style.

But I was only in my twenties.

A few years ago I decided to reread a few of those pivotal, amazing, life changing books from my 20's. They all fell flat. They no longer said anything to my 30-something self.

And that's okay. Some books are meant to be read and loved by 20-something's only.

I also believe that there are some books and some authors that need to be read when you are older and more experienced (in a literary sense as well as a life sense).
When I read The Orchard Thieves I knew it was being wasted on my 20-something self.

Writing this post has made me very curious about Jolley's very secretive life. I suspect a Jolley bio is on my 40-something horizon!

This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

I is for If She Rings by Dorothy Porter

Christmas, New Year and our summer holidays got the better of me.

I missed a couple of Alphabe-Thursday posts in my Aussie Author Challenge *tsk tsk!

And now we're up to the letter I...eek!
To make this letter work for me I've had to stretch my rules a little to find an Australian author that I've actually read.

Therefore this week I give you Australian poet Dorothy Porter and her poem, If She Rings.

Dorothy Porter was born in 26th March 1954 in Sydney. Her parents were Jean & Chester Porter. Chester was the QC who defended Lindy Chamberlain.

She attended Sydney Uni, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts (English & History). One of her teachers was poet, writer & essayist David Malouf.

In 1993 she moved to Melbourne to be with her partner, writer Andrea Goldsmith. They shared a cat called Wystan, named after WH Auden.

In different articles and interviews over the years, Porter cited Emily Dickinson, Basho, Raymond Chandler & Dorothy Parker as important influences on her work.
According to friends, 'lucid' and 'feral' were her two favourite words.

Dorothy Porter: " Music has been the key for me since I was a teenager ... I wanted to tap into that dark potency of rock'n'roll, and I still write to music every day."

 "The poetry scene in Australia is small, querulous, and has always been distinctly unglamorous. The advantage I had early on was that I studied acting, and I was a very good performer at a time when poetry was basically mumbled. I could dramatise and that got me noticed."

"I'm longing for poetry that just smacks me across the head."

Andrea Goldsmith:  "Her work is romantic without being sentimental; it’s lyrical, insightful and emotionally resonant. And it is sharply contemporary in its honesty, its imagery, its unwavering grasp of the jugular. Most of all it illuminates love, which is, after all, the most powerful of human experiences."

David Malouf:  "She had such a vitality and a grasp of life, I think you see that in the way she made her poetry work, in very spare tight verse ... she had enormous energy."

Tim Finn:  "She was a very real person, with no bullshit, and this raw honesty. You would want to meet her on that level. Her work was streetwise and sensuous. She could write with heightened language, and never be waffly or precious, and there was always the unexpected image. She was a really great writer."

Michael Brennan:  "Porter is a defiant voice against the obscure and effete in poetry, unafraid to see poetry as a popular art form in the twentieth century, a feast open to all, immersed in the sweat, blood and tears of contemporary life, its hum-drum realities and headlong rush."

Porter died of breast cancer on the 10th December 2008. At the time of her death, she was working with Tim Finn on a rock opera - I would have loved to have seen (and heard) that!

Porter was one of the few Australian poets fortunate enough to actually make a living from her work.

Poetry collections

• Little Hoodlum (1975)
• Bison (1979)
• The Night Parrot (1984)
• Driving too Fast (1989)
• Crete (1996)
• Other Worlds: Poems 1997–2001 (2001)

  

  Dorothy Porter by Rick Amor (2001-2002)

• Poems January–August 2004 (2004)
• The Bee Hut (2009, Posthumous)
• "Love Poems" (2010, Posthumous)
• The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter (2013)

Libretti (with composer Jonathan Mills)

• The Ghost Wife (2000)
• The Eternity Man (2005)

Verse novels

• Akhenaten (1992)
• The Monkey's Mask (1994)
• What a Piece of Work (1999)          shortlisted for the Miles Franklin
• Wild Surmise (2002)          shortlisted for the Miles Franklin      
• El Dorado (2007)            shortlisted for the inaugural Prime Ministers Award

Fiction for young adults

• Rookwood (1991)
• The Witch Number (1993)

A film of The Monkey Mask starring Susie Porter & Kelly McGillis was released in 2001 (thank you wikipedia).

I have read The Bee Hut and The Best 100 Poems (compiled after her death).
It has been wonderful to have an excuse to browse through them again for this post.
Reading Porter's poems is a very sensual, earthy and heart-wrenching experience. Repeat visits are a must.

I don't find it easy to review a book of poetry as I never read the poems in one sitting or in order. I pull out the pieces that speak to my mood of the moment. I return to favourites, I circle verses, underline words & asterix whole sections.
I love spotting a heavily marked poem that obviously meant a lot to me on one reading, but now I go 'meh'!
Rereading my books of poetry would be a quick, easy way to view my emotional growth & life journey (if only I dated my scribblings!)

But for now I will leave you with a few of Porter's 'I' poems.

If She Rings (from The Best 100 Poems)

she said

she'd ring in a week

two weeks ago

we were walking along

Balmoral Beach

we were almost

holding hands

we were watching

seagulls

our salty lips

her nervy hand

skipping chips

through the sand

she said

she was marking essays

she said

she'd ring in a week

two weeks ago

this morning

I'm not witing by the phone

this morning

I'm packing my bags

if she rings in an hour

I'll be on the train

if she rings later

I'll be on the plane

if she rings tonight

I'll be in Brisbane

at least a hundred beaches

away.

IV: I Touch  (Poems from the Verse Novel El Dorado)

 

I touch her lovely wild

face.

I've been here before.

The white beach.

The glistening trees.

The staring savages

on the shore.

Imagination  (from The Bee Hut)

Sung with hypnotising allure by a counter-tenor

dressed in very dirty black silk pyjamas

I'm your real world

I'm your bottomless pool

of sucking

black mud

trust me 

trust me

I'm so soft and warm

and dirty

trust me

trust me

you can sink

so sweet and safely

right to the calling

and calling

bottomless

of me

I prmoise

I'll make the journey 

worth you while

trust me

trust me

the dark and fabulous

things

you'll learn and know

from the dissolving roots

of your hair

to the soft slow burn

of your lost lost

toes

the dark and fabulous

things

I'll show

will never leave you

will never let

you go

I'm your real world

your bottomless pool

of black and sucking

mud

I'll seep right

through you

I'll change forever

your bones, soul

and blood

I'm your real world

trust me

trust me

I'm so soft and warm

and dirty

trust me

trust me

take my journey

take the plunge

you can sink

you can sink

so sweet and safely

right to the calling

and calling 

bottomless

of me.

I've always loved how Porter's poems stir & disturb my conservative emotions, but typing up these three poems, one by one, word by word, has been extraordinary. 

Her words got right under my skin, they sunk in, black & sucking, soft and warm until they felt a part of me.I suddenly felt lucid...and well, a little feral!

How glorious that someone else's words can have such an immediate & physical effect.

I really must read one of her verse novels soon.

This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday as well as being my very first post for the AWW2015 challenge.