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ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Miles Franklin was a very young woman when her first and most famous book, My Brilliant Career, was published (without the intended question mark after the second word!). It created a sensation amongst the literary folk of the land, but unfortunately her British publisher didn't make it easy for Australians to read it and the general readers were unlikely to get their hands on a copy. What earnings Miles gained from it were not enough to save her family's farm or to set her up independently, nor were her next attempts at novels successful.
Scorning to live on the bounty of some of the wealthy women who feted her, she decided to seek work as a housemaid and then use her experiences to write an expose on servanthood. This too was never published, but Kerrie Davies has mined the rich seams of the original manuscript to construct this period of Miles' life. She also deals with the years following, when Miles went to America and found work with organisations and trades union dedicated to female suffrage and bettering the lives of working women there.
I'm not always a fan of creative non-fiction, and I still have reservations, but Miles Franklin is a woman I have always greatly admired, and this deeply researched and carefully written book does bring to light a little known period of her brilliant life. Lindy
Kerrie Davies is the author of A Wife's Heart, that created national discussion about the iconic poet Henry Lawson and his marriage. She has appeared at the Sydney and Brisbane Writers Festivals, and the National Folk festival, Canberra. A former journalist for Vogue and the Sunday Telegraph, Kerrie is Senior Lecturer at the School of the Arts & Media, UNSW Sydney, a 2024 Visiting Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales, and writes for the Conversation.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Miles Franklin was a very young woman when her first and most famous book, My Brilliant Career, was published (without the intended question mark after the second word!). It created a sensation amongst the literary folk of the land, but unfortunately her British publisher didn't make it easy for Australians to read it and the general readers were unlikely to get their hands on a copy. What earnings Miles gained from it were not enough to save her family's farm or to set her up independently, nor were her next attempts at novels successful.
Scorning to live on the bounty of some of the wealthy women who feted her, she decided to seek work as a housemaid and then use her experiences to write an expose on servanthood. This too was never published, but Kerrie Davies has mined the rich seams of the original manuscript to construct this period of Miles' life. She also deals with the years following, when Miles went to America and found work with organisations and trades union dedicated to female suffrage and bettering the lives of working women there.
I'm not always a fan of creative non-fiction, and I still have reservations, but Miles Franklin is a woman I have always greatly admired, and this deeply researched and carefully written book does bring to light a little known period of her brilliant life. Lindy
Captures a wonderful sense of Miles as a person. A fascinating page turner. * Gillian Armstrong, director of the movie My Brilliant Career * Heartbreaking and heartwarming in turn, Miles Franklin Undercover is a triumph of enthralling storytelling. * Sue Williams, author of The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress * Evocative and richly drawn, this sparkling book shows us a side to the great literary heroine that is darker and even more interesting than many Australians know. * Jacqueline Maley, journalist and author of The Truth About Her * A captivating read - Miles comes alive. * Brigitta Olubas, author of Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life *
