Blue Skies: Text Classics

(Paperback)

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Description

In Helen Hodgman's dazzlingly written debut a young woman is trapped in a small city on an island at the end of the world-by motherhood and an absent husband, by busybody in-laws and neighbours, by a drab society yet to throw off the shackles of its colonial past. A darkly funny tale of a crack-up in stultifying suburbia, Blue Skies marked the emergence of a unique, acerbic voice in Australian fiction. This edition includes an introduction by the acclaimed Tasmanian author Danielle Wood.

Reviews

'Scarily unforgettable.' -- Peter Conrad 'Strange and memorable.' -- Eva Hornung 'The very essence of Tasmanian gothic.' -- Carmel Bird 'Singularly searing and merciless prose.' Sunday Age 'Sensuous...Prickly as a sea urchin.' -- Nicholas Shakespeare 'A convincing study of a woman slowly losing her mind.' Sun Herald 'Elegantly written, atmospheric.' -- Brenda Niall Australian Book Review 'Has a masterpiece's power to thrill and discomfort.' Sunday Tasmanian 'As fresh, punchy and relevant now as it was on its [first] release...A compelling vision.' Australian 'Stylistically assured...Daring and persuasive in its depiction of a controlled and vengeful anguish.' -- Peter Pierce Sydney Morning Herald

Author Bio

Helen Hodgman is the author of the novels Blue Skies (1976), Jack and Jill (1978; winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Broken Words (1988; winner of the Christina Stead Prize), Passing Remarks (1996), Waiting for Matindi (1998) and The Bad Policeman (2001).