'At last I read her books, reminding myself to breathe, wondering if her characters could extricate themselves from her finely spun web of psychological torment. I seized my chance to interview Elizabeth Harrower again...'Elizabeth Harrower wrote some of the most intense, original and highly regarded novels of the twentieth century. Then she abruptly stopped writing in the 1970s and became one of the most puzzling mysteries of Australian literature. Why didn't she continue? Harrower gave evasive answers to friends and interviewers, and only since her death in 2020 has a deeper search been possible.
In this definitive biography, renowned journalist and writer Susan Wyndham grapples with the elusive Harrower. She immerses us in the author's tumultuous family, her complex friendships with Patrick White, Christina Stead, Kylie Tennant and Shirley Hazzard, and her timeless probing of the human spirit in five remarkable novels.
Drawing on time spent with Harrower, revealing analysis of her fiction and new research, Wyndham unmasks a literary legend.
About the Author
Susan Wyndham is a writer and journalist who has been New York correspondent for The Australian newspaper and literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. Her most recent book, co-edited with Brigitta Olubas, is Hazzard and Harrower: The letters. In 2024 she was awarded a National Library of Australia Fellowship to research the life of Elizabeth Harrower.
Industry Reviews
‘ Elizabeth Harrower: The woman in the watch tower is the first (and perhaps final) word on one of Australia’s most brilliant and bedevelling writers. Like Harrower’s, Wyndham’s prose is meticulously observed, emotionally attuned and full of grace, insight and vision. It’s a fantastic achievement.’ – Dominic Amerena
‘This is an extraordinary biography of one of the finest, and most important, Australian writers, Elizabeth Harrower. In a braiding so skilled you can’t see it, Susan Wyndham takes us from Harrower’s life into her work and her friendships, and then back into her work and life. This is a deceptively simple, beautifully detailed, psychologically acute portrait worthy of its subject.’ – Anna Funder
‘This is a wonderful book. It gives us the complexities of Harrower’s life and of her fascinating character – so naïve and at the same time so intelligent, her prickly diffidence coupled with a kind of gormless passion. And it sets her compellingly into the decades when modern Australian literature was coming into being. An indispensable contribution to Australian writing.’ – Brigitta Olubas
‘This much-awaited biography peels back the layers on Australian literary legend Elizabeth Harrower, who died in 2020 after decades as an enigmatic figure.’ – Melanie Kembrey, SMH/The Age
‘A sympathetic and illuminating exploration of the life and work of one of post-war Australia's most significant writers.’ – Books + Publishing
