Core of My Heart, My Country by Maggie Mackellar
Henry Lawson has a lot to answer for. His drover’s wife, and her ilk, reinforced and perpetuated the stereotype of the frontier being no place for a woman. Yet women were of course very much present at the boundaries of settlement. And their experiences moved far beyond the confines of the domestic house and garden. …
Bombay Anna by Susan Morgan
You’ve likely never heard of Bombay Anna. But I bet you have heard of Mrs Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of the King of Siam. If you’ve ever seen the movie or stage version of the King and I, you’ve seen Mrs Anna. Mrs Anna, however, was far more than a figment of Rodgers’…
Bombay Anna and Elizabeth Marsh
Just finished The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh. Elizabeth Marsh (1735-85) lived an amazing life, and Linda Colley has written an amazing biography. But I’m not going to try to review it here because excellent blogger The Resident Judge of Port Phillip has already reviewed it beautifully (with links to other reviews too – thanks!) To…
Split Infinitives
In 1926 Henry Watson Fowler published A Dictionary of Modern English Usage to great acclaim. I found my edition (2009, with a new introduction and notes by David Crystal) on a remainder table one workday lunchtime and picked up a $52 hardback for a winning $12. Yes, my colleagues were suitably impressed at my bargain-shopping…