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image of person or book cover 4173649183501536386.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon The Strays single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2014... 2014 The Strays
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'On her first day of school, Lily Struthers meets Eva, one of the daughters of the infamous avant-garde artist Evan Trentham. He and his wife are attempting to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work with them at their family home. As Lily’s friendship with Eva grows, she becomes infatuated with this artist colony, longing to truly belong to this makeshift family.

'Looking back on those years later in life, Lily realises that this utopian circle involved the same themes as Evan Trentham’s art: Faustian bargains and terrible recompense; spectacular fortunes and falls from grace. Yet it was not Evan, nor the other artists he gathered around him, but his own daughters, who paid the debt that was owing.

'The Strays is an engrossing story of ambition, sacrifice and compromised loyalties from an exciting new talent.'

Source: Publisher's blurb. (Sighted: 30/1/2014)

Exhibitions

19046856
18667821

Notes

  • Epigraph:

    'To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame,

    to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life'

    – Walter Pater

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Affirm Press , 2014 .
      image of person or book cover 4173649183501536386.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 May 2014.
      ISBN: 9781922213211
    • South Melbourne, South Melbourne - Port Melbourne area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Affirm Press , 2015 .
      image of person or book cover 8344699066345662022.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 290p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 1st November 2015
      ISBN: 9781925344202
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Legend Press ,
      2016 .
      image of person or book cover 4015765245839148244.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 August 2016.

      ISBN: 9781785079511, 9781785079528
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Twelve ,
      2018 .
      image of person or book cover 625794693961523477.jpeg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 242p.p.
      ISBN: 9781455537716, 1455537713

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon At Home with Emily Bitto Astrid Edwards (interviewer), Melbourne : Bad Producer Productions , 2021 23443379 2021 single work podcast interview

'Emily Bitto is a Melbourne-based writer of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Her debut novel, The Strays, was the winner of the 2015 Stella Prize, and in 2021 she released her second novel, Wild Abandon.

'Her fiction, poetry and non-fiction has appeared in various publications, including MeanjinThe Age, the Monthly, the Saturday PaperThe Big Issue, and The Sydney Morning Herald. She is also the co-owner of Carlton wine bar Heartattack and Vine.' (Production summary)

Neglectful Bohemians Sophie Gilbert , 2017 single work review
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 8 January 2017; (p. 18)

— Review of The Strays Emily Bitto , 2014 single work novel
'“Family,” Helena Trentham asserts early in the Australian writer Emily Bitto’s remarkable first novel, “should be the people you choose to surround yourself with, not the people you happen to be related to.” The wife of an avant-garde painter and the mother of three daughters living in 1930s Melbourne, Helena has therefore constructed a “big, noisy, quicksilver” community of artists, all working and living together in a ramshackle house. But she fails to consider how this seemingly charmed bohemian life is affecting her own children, neglected and nudged to the periphery.' (Introduction)
This Is Not a Memoir: the C-word in Women’s Writing Marta Skrabacz , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , September 2016;
y separately published work icon The Strays by Emily Bitto Khadija Caffoor , Melbourne : CAE Book Group , 2015 9463832 2015 single work criticism
The Strays Wins the Stella, Shortlisted for the Dobbie 2015 single work column
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , July vol. 95 no. 1 2015; (p. 7)
[Untitled] Emily Laidlaw , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , February vol. 93 no. 3 2014; (p. 20)

— Review of The Strays Emily Bitto , 2014 single work novel
Review : The Strays James Tierney , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 52)

— Review of The Strays Emily Bitto , 2014 single work novel
Painting a Vivid Picture of Friendship Blanche Clark , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 June 2014; (p. 19)

— Review of The Strays Emily Bitto , 2014 single work novel
'A city's rick art history provided the inspiration for Emily Bitto's debut novel...'
A Picture of Loneliness at the Dark Heart of Art Eloquent Portrait of a Destructive Artist Michael McGirr , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21-22 June 2014; (p. 35) The Age , 21 June 2014; (p. 35) The Canberra Times , 21 June 2014; (p. 23)

— Review of The Strays Emily Bitto , 2014 single work novel
Well Read Katharine England , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 June 2014; (p. 25)

— Review of The Strays Emily Bitto , 2014 single work novel ; Currawong Manor Josephine Pennicott , 2014 single work novel
Artistic Licence Emily Laidlaw , 2014 single work interview
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , February vol. 93 no. 3 2014; (p. 24)
Stella Prize 2015: The Shortlisted Authors on the Stories behind Their Books Emily Bitto , Christine Kenneally , Sofie Laguna , Ellen van Neerven , Maxine Beneba Clarke , Joan London , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 17 April 2015;
Winning Debut for Emily Bitto’s ‘Original, Engaging’ Novel Debut Novel Proves a Stella Effort for Young Writer; Bitto's Stella Performance Proves a Winning Debut Jason Steger , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22 April 2015; (p. 10) The Canberra Times , 22 April 2015; (p. 8) The Age , 22 April 2015; (p. 12)
Debut Effort Proves a Stella Performance Stephen Romei , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 22 April 2015; (p. 3)
Emily Bitto Wins 2015 Stella Prize for Her Debut Novel, The Strays Nancy Groves , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 21 April 2015;
Last amended 23 Mar 2021 09:31:30
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