Kirjahaku

As her mother Joan lies dying, Gabrielle Carey writes a letter to Joan's childhood friend, the reclusive novelist Randolph Stow. This letter sets in motion a literary pilgrimage that reveals long-buried family secrets. Like her mother, Stow had grown up in Western Australia. After early literary success and a Miles Franklin Award in 1958 for his novel "To the Islands," he left for England and a life of self-imposed exile. Living most of her life on the east coast, Gabrielle was also estranged from her family's west Australian roots but never questioned why. A devoted fan of Stow's writing, she becames fascinated by his connection with her extended family, but before she can meet him he dies. With only a few pieces of correspondence to guide her, Gabrielle embarks on a journey from the red-dirt landscape of Western Australia to the English seaside town of Harwich in a quest to understand her family's past and Stow's place in it. "Moving Among Strangers" is a celebration of one of Australia's most enigmatic and visionary writers.

'When I discovered Elizabeth von Arnim, I found, for the first time, a writer who wrote about being happy.' Elizabeth von Arnim is one of the early twentieth century's most famous - and almost forgotten - authors. She was ahead of her time in her understanding of women and their often thwarted pursuit of happiness. Born in Sydney in the mid-1800s, she went on to write many internationally bestselling novels, marry a Prussian Count and then an English Lord, develop close friendships with H.G. Wells and E.M. Forster, and raise five children. Intrigued by von Arnim's extraordinary life, Gabrielle Carey sets off on a literary and philosophical journey to learn about this bold and witty author. More than a biography, Only Happiness Here is also a personal investigation into our perennial obsession with finding joy.

If you know nothing about James Joyce but would like to this is the book for you. If you know a little about James Joyce and would like to know more but not too much, this is the book for you. And if you are a die-hard Joycean who has spent your life puzzling over his work but know nothing about his life, this is also the book for you.