Julie Lewis
Autor(a) de Olga Masters, a lot of living : the compelling biography of this much-loved writer
Obras de Julie Lewis
ON AIR 1 exemplar(es)
OLGA MASTERS 1 exemplar(es)
Unlimited Scope companion booklet : exercises for English students and notes for media studies students (1983) 1 exemplar(es)
Travelling notebook six: literature notes by Julie Lewis 1 exemplar(es)
Superfood Recipes: Super Foods Healthy Recipes Book 1 exemplar(es)
Smolder 1 exemplar(es)
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Sexo
- female
Membros
Resenhas
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 16
- Membros
- 54
- Popularidade
- #299,230
- Avaliação
- 3.7
- Resenhas
- 1
- ISBNs
- 12
It is chastening to read Julie Lewis's insightful biography of Olga Masters (1919-1986). She had a hard life in many ways and yet she transcended her difficulties to become one of Australia's best loved authors in the last few years of her life. I've read two of her novels, Loving Daughters (1984), and Amy’s Children (1994), (links to my reviews), and I have on the TBR her posthumously published Collected Stories (1996) which includes all the stories from her first collection The Home Girls (1982), plus those from A Long Time Dying (1985), and The Rose Fancier (posthumously published, 1988).
As the second of eight children in rural NSW, Olga endured the kind of poverty that is hard to imagine now. The year of her birth coincided with a prolonged drought and then a rabbit plague, and her father Leo Lawler was, like many other returned WW1 servicemen, hard hit by the Depression. The family knew what it was to be hungry, and the children often went barefoot.
In those days before birth control, Olga was determined not to share her mother's fate of early marriage, numerous children and the drudgery of housework. She had her first story published at the age of fifteen in 1934 and she wangled her way into minor journalism in Cobargo. But the job didn't last long, and despite her obvious potential she had to revert to helping at home, as she was expected to do. And after that, would come marriage and children. Not marrying in a rural community like hers meant failure.
The family's move to progressively cheaper and smaller rentals meant that they could not supplement their income with a cow and a vegetable patch, and there was no social welfare support for people in the Lawlers' situation.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/10/12/olga-masters-a-lot-of-living-1991-by-julie-l...… (mais)