AustLit

'Sarah Goldman’s biography of 19th-century humanita­rian Caroline Chisholm vividly conveys­ the flesh-and-blood reality of someone long stereotyped as ‘‘rotund and frumpy’’ and too virtuous to be interesting. It is full of surprises about her character and her work.' (Introduction)

'Sometimes poetry is made of words thought up and strung together. Sometimes it’s made of words found and rearranged: words from other poems, from signage or advertising, from overheard conversation, from novels, magazine articles, from Twitter, from the newspaper. Every kind of literary art and verbal detritus can be reused by poets.' (Introduction)

'Sandra Pankhurst is no ordinary cleaner. The subject of Sarah Krasnostein’s biography, The Trauma Cleaner, this Melbourne businesswoman is one of the most extraordinary characters you will ever find in a work of non-fiction. Pankhurst’s company, Specialised Trauma Cleaners, deals with crime scenes, “unattended deaths” and hoarders’ houses. Staff in white plastic suits rip up sewage-drenched carpet, wipe bloodstains from walls, and dispose of decades of rubbish.' (Introduction)