The Aunts' House
By (Author) Elizabeth Stead
University of Queensland Press
University of Queensland Press
2nd April 2019
Australia
General
Fiction
Paperback
288
Width 152mm, Height 225mm, Spine 22mm
376g
Do you accept the life you're given or fight for the life you want Sydney, 1942. Recently orphaned, Angel Martin moves into a boarding house populated by an assortment of eccentric and colourful characters. She's befriended by the gregarious Winifred Varnham - a vision in exotic fabrics - and the numerically gifted Barnaby Grange. But not everyone is kind and her scrimping landlady, Missus Potts, is only the beginning of Angel's troubles. Angel refuses to accept her fate. She is determined to forge a sense of belonging despite rejection from her two maiden aunts, Clara and Elsa, who blame Angel's mother for their brother's death. Her Sunday visits to the aunts' house by the Bay expand her world in ways she couldn't have imagined. Elizabeth Stead brings her classic subversive wit and personal insight to this nostalgic portrait of wartime Sydney. In Angel Martin, she has created a singular and irrepressible character. A true original.
Elizabeth Stead is Sydney-born and is the niece of acclaimed Australian novelist Christina Stead. From childhood, Elizabeth was greatly inspired by her grandfather, David George Stead, pioneer naturalist, conservationist and storyteller. Elizabeth has published short fiction, and five novels, The Fishcastle, The Different World of Fin Starling, The Book of Tides, The Gospel of Gods and Crocodiles (UQP, 2007) and The Sparrows of Edward Street (UQP, 2011).