AustLit

'Danielle Clode writes in the first chapter on her subject, Jeanne Barret:

'All that is left of Jeanne today are a few fragmentary traces in the archives, a handful of documents, a signature here or there, a reported conversation and descriptions from others, some malicious but mostly admiring (10).' 

(Introduction)

'I take that first bite of dinner – the food somehow pushing my slack body upright, into itself – and realise I haven’t eaten all day. How could this have happened? I never used to be a person who forgot meals. I couldn’t understand what that was, so eager was I to eat. When my hunger goes, I realise what it is to eat: a reprieve from the day filled with tasks; a necessary moment to myself; an experience shared with family, friends.' (Introduction)

'When Katerina Bryant suddenly began experiencing chronic seizures, she was plunged into a foreign world of doctors and psychiatrists, who understood her condition as little as she did. Reacting the only way she knew how, she immersed herself in books, reading her way through her own complicated diagnosis and finding a community of women who shared similar experiences.

'In the tradition of Siri Hustvedt's The Shaking Woman, Bryant blends memoir with literary and historical analysis to explore women's medical treatment. Hysteria retells the stories of silenced women, from the 'Queen of Hysterics' Blanche Wittmann to Mary Glover's illness termed 'hysterica passio'  a panic attack caused by the movement of the uterus — in London in 1602 and more. By centring these stories of women who had no voice in their own diagnosis and treatment, Bryant finds her own voice: powerful, brave and resonant.'

Source: publisher's blurb

'After a year of COVID-reshuffled publication dates, two Adelaide authors – Katerina Bryant and Adelaide Review writer Kylie Maslen – find themselves in the unusual position of both having debut books, which share their lived experiences with chronic illness, hitting shelves in September.' (Introduction)

'When the visions begin, I reach for my µατι. Gripping tight, I feel the glass eye heat in my hand. The pupil marks a dot in my palm as jagged edges of light shimmer across my eyes. I’m not enough of a believer to think that the µατι fully protects me as I am awash with illness, but holding on to something in this moment where the world feels light and wispy is a comfort I cannot bear to part with.' (Introduction)

'As Mum and I walk Into the exhibit. spiders are scuttling across the door. When our feet touch them. the dart away as if we are the one to be feared. Perhaps out of hope that this will be the worst it gets,. I start jumping from one end of the room to another.' (Introduction)

'Yellow wisps of fuzz cover rounded body, spreading slowly down delicate legs. brittle even, like dark seeds carefully joined. Fine wings arch from their middle, clear with a slight yellow to them. Like spittle or hot water laced with honey. Eyes so big as though they are car windows—how does the world look through them?' (Introduction)

'My great-grandmother's favourite type of animal was pigs. She moved to Australia from Torquay, England, following her husband, a soldier settler, across the world after World War I. They bought a farm and worked the land, raising sheep, cows, chickens and, of course, pigs. At first, she raised pigs as livestock but couldn't bear to part with them. Instead, she kept them as pets. The pigs would follow her and suck on her legs, pressing their snouts to the silk of her stockings.' 

(Introduction)

'Before 1966, true crime was largely unheard of. Then came the Clutter family, and Truman Capote's infamous exploration of their murder. In Cold Blood is seen as a pioneering work in the formation of the true crime genre, coming in second as the highest selling true crime book in the history of publishing. Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter, chronicling the Manson murders, is first.' (Publication abstract)