The Georges' Wife

Vera Wright Series #3

by Elizabeth Jolley

The contnuing story of Vera of "My Father's Moon" and "Cabin Fever". At the end of the latter, she is housekeeper to Mr and Mrs George and Mr George's lover. Now Vera has a second child (Mr George is the father), and is a doctor and is accompanying Mr George to Australia, where they will marry.

Genres: Fiction, Australia

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Monica Elizabeth Jolley was an award-winning writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 years old when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels (including an autobiographical trilogy), four short story collections, and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving significant critical acclaim. She was also a pioneer of creative writing teaching in Australia, counting many well known writers such as Tim Winton among her students. Her novels explore alienated characters and the nature of loneliness and entrapment.

Honours:
1987: Western Australian Citizen of the Year
1988: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to literature
1989: Canada/Australia Literary Award
1997: Australian Living Treasure

Reviews

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book a bit uninspiring when I read it, and had to force myself to finish it. I couldn't warm to any of the characters, or get interested in their motivations and situations. However since reading about the life of Elizabeth Jolley recently, I need to revisit this book as it seems to be a fictional treatment of her actual life.

I'll give it another chance!

[notgettingenough · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the mark of a writer's greatness that their words do not stop on the page. We reuse them over and over because they fit, most obviously Shakespeare - for a nice example in the press recently, there is Blumenthal's account of Trump as Lear, though frankly, if Lear's downfall is a tragedy, does this then elevate Trump when he should not be?

But sometimes it is incredibly personal. At face value these books have nothing to do with my life. They are set in a different world, a different time, with a protagonist who makes life-changing decisions I hope I would never make. And yet! Oh my goodness, how I felt that we were one and the same.

This is part three of has been published as the Vera Wright trilogy, as bitterly sad as the others. And as unread as the others too. WTF, Northern Hemisphere, listen to Coetzee, he's been fighting for the right of Australian (and Southern Hemisphere generally) literature to be accepted for a reason dudes.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I broke my rule and have read the third in the series before the others but it stands alone and, I suspect, may be slightly biographical. Contrasts the old and the new worlds beautifully.

[Velvetink]

bargain = 1 of 29 books for $5.