Yarn Spinners: A Story In Letters - Cusack, Franklin, James

by Marilla North

Love, life, writing and friendship are the intimate subjects of letters between three intelligent, witty women who shared a passionate commitment to Australian literature. These carefully selected letters tell a story that reads like a novel. Their correspondence - from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s - reveals their public battles as well as their private ones. Their personal conflicts are a microcosm of Australian society's struggles over the period.

456 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jennifer Rolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most surprising books I have read. It is a compilation of letters written from 1928 to 1955 between three extraordinary Australian women writers - Dymphna Cusack, Miles Franklin and Florence James and these letters plus the absolutely superb references, notes and index provided by Marilla North have left me enthralled over the past few days. I am feeling rather sad to have finished this book as it has taken me on the most amazing journey through not only their friendship and creative collaboration but also the politics and social scenarios of the period.
I have been a Kylie Tennant fan and read most of her books, but have only read a couple of Dymphna's and Miles' until now. I discovered this book when searching for more information on Dymphna Cusack because my father had mentioned her as being a wonderful mentor when he was struggling to pass his Education Department exams.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I have only read about a third of Yarn Spinners for research, Marilla North’s incredible achievement is obvious. What a mammoth and challenging task to edit and assemble the letters of Dymphna Cusack, Florence James and Miles Franklin and others, over a 26 year period.
There is so much to enjoy here, the support the three writers give each other, especially Miles to the other two, all of Dymphna’s writing projects and particularly for this reader the time Florence and Dymphna spent at Pinegrove in the Blue Mountains collaborating on the children’s book Four Winds and a Family and of course the prize winning Come in Spinner.
It is unbelievable now the whole debacle of the Daily Telegraph novel prize and the delay in announcing Come in Spinner as the winner. It was never serialised by the DT but finally published by Willliam Heinemann in 1951.
During the correspondence between the writers, a dear friend of Dymphna’s, Kay Keen dies from TB, Florence returns to London in 1947 to be reunited with her husband, taking her two daughters with her only to discover that her marriage is over. She must now forge a life for herself as a single mother. She remains with the girls in London, working as a literary agent until 1963.
There are Dymphna’s struggles too with what she calls her “dog disease”, later diagnosed as MS and Miles’s struggle with her nephew who is suffering from PSTD as a result of his war service. His illness really darkens Miles’s last few years yet she doesn’t waver in her support to the other two, particularly Dymphna who she calls her “literary daughter”.
Weaving through the letters are North’s concise notes along with end notes, a chronology to 1955, pen portraits of the people who feature in the letters, a list of sources and bibliography. An enjoyable read and a valuable resource.