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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'It is 1941. Eighteen-year-old Ruby leaves behind the family farm, her serious mother and roguish father, and heads for Adelaide. After a brief courtship, she enters into a hasty marriage with a soldier about to go to war – who returns a changed man.
'In this absorbing novel, Anna Goldsworthy recreates the world of Adelaide half a century ago, and portrays the phases of a woman’s life with intimacy and sly humour. We follow Ruby as she contends with her damaged husband and eccentric in-laws. We see her experience motherhood and changing social circumstances, until, in a moving twist, a figure from the past reappears, to kindle a late-life romance.
'In her captivating fiction debut, Goldsworthy evokes a woman’s life in a pre-feminist world. In this tender, funny book, she combines an Austenesque wit with Alice Munro’s feeling for human complexity.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
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Dedication: For my mother, in memory of Moggy.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Yearning of a Feminist Wife
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7 March 2020; (p. 24)
— Review of Melting Moments 2020 single work novel -
Inner Worlds : Three Debuts about Female Experience
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 419 2020; (p. 29-30)
— Review of Melting Moments 2020 single work novel ; The Light After the War 2020 single work novel ; Wearing Paper Dresses 2019 single work novel'Three recent début novels employ the genre of the Bildungsroman to explore the complexities of female experience in the recent historical past.'
-
Inner Worlds : Three Debuts about Female Experience
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 419 2020; (p. 29-30)
— Review of Melting Moments 2020 single work novel ; The Light After the War 2020 single work novel ; Wearing Paper Dresses 2019 single work novel'Three recent début novels employ the genre of the Bildungsroman to explore the complexities of female experience in the recent historical past.'
-
Yearning of a Feminist Wife
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7 March 2020; (p. 24)
— Review of Melting Moments 2020 single work novel
Awards
- 2021 shortlisted Colin Roderick Award
- Adelaide, South Australia,
