My Congenials: Miles Franklin and Friends in Letters

(Paperback)

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Miles Franklin wrote the first of these letters at Brindabella in 1887, more than a decade before she started My Brilliant Career, the novel that famously propelled her out of the bush and on to Sydney and the world. The correspondence follows her to the Women's Trade Union League in Chicago, to war work in the Balkans, to a return to writing in London, and finally home in the 1930s. After her nearly thirty years away, the letters more than ever now allowed Miles to share with 'her congenials' - friends in England, Europe, the USA and Australia - experiences, memories and, above all, her commitment to Australian literature. The last letter in this collection was written only 16 days before her death. As well as Miles Franklin's own witty and provocative correspondence, the selection includes letters from her life-long friends, such as Alice Henry and Vida Goldstein, Katharine Susannah Pritchard, Dymphna Cusack and Beatrice Davis. Selected and edited by Jill Roe, the letters crackle with the surprises of a life richly lived. Presented for the first time in one volume, with a fresh introduction and new notes, plus additional biographical data, this collection offers a rare insight into the mind and times of a brilliant woman.

Author Bio

Jill Roe, AO (1940-2017), was Professor Emerita in the Department of Modern History at Macquarie University, Sydney. She wrote numerous papers on Miles Franklin's life and work. Her edited selection of Miles Franklin's letters, My Congenials, appeared in 1993, and A Gregarious Culture: Topical Writings of Miles Franklin (with Margaret Bettison) in 2001.