A Descant for Gossips: UQP Modern Classics
By (Author) Thea Astley
University of Queensland Press
University of Queensland Press
22nd April 2015
Australia
Paperback
264
Width 130mm, Height 198mm, Spine 19mm
242g
A Descant for Gossips was Thea Astley's second novel, released in 1960 in England and Australia. In 1983 it was successfully adapted for television by the ABC. In this classic story of small-town life, two schoolteachers are drawn to each other by their concern for a lonely young girl. For as long as Vinny Lalor could remember, she had been on the fringe of things - in her family and at school. But as the final term of the year progresses, rumour and malice mount against Vinny and her two teachers, sweeping them towards scandal and, for one of them, disaster. A Descant for Gossips was Thea Astley's second novel, released in 1960 in England and Australia. In 1983 it was successfully adapted for television by the ABC.
Thea Astley held a position as fellow in Australian literature at Macquarie University until 1980, when she retired to write full time. She is a prolific author who won many awards, including the Miles Franklin Award four times--for The Acolyte, Drylands, The Slow Natives, and The Well Dressed Explorer. Other awards include the 1975 Age Book of the Year Award, the 1980 Australian Literature Studies (ALS) Award, the 1986 ALS Gold Medal, the 1988 Steele Rudd Award, the 1990 NSW Premier's Prize, and the 1996 Age Book of the Year Award.