Painted Woman

Always The Gap, I swear I knew about it right from the start. Oh, I see how you in the front row smile and twitch your toes, but I knew. From the moment I broke the first doll's head and found inside only a brand name. Budget Toys. Synthetic Rubber. When I saw the first Christmas present wrappings emptied of hope. When I knew that the arms holding me could fall by a will that wasn't mine. When I saw the distance between the breast and me. The dreaded, awesome distance...

The richly compelling portrait of the artist as a young woman dominated by her violent, overpowering father, a 'man of genius' and an artist too. Will she be able to free herself?

First published in 1989, Sue Woolfe's acclaimed debut novel, Painted Woman, was runner up in the Australian Bicentennial Award.