- Published: 30 October 2017
- ISBN: 9780143784821
- Imprint: Knopf Australia
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 384
- RRP: $34.99
The Drover's Wife
A Collection
- Published: 30 October 2017
- ISBN: 9780143784821
- Imprint: Knopf Australia
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 384
- RRP: $34.99
Why does this particular story resonate so deeply in our collective imagination? Last year Frank Moorhouse set out to try to answer this question. He brought together many versions of Lawson’s story in a book titled The Drover’s Wife: a celebration of a great Australian love affair (2017). That in itself is a worthy public service, as these stories were scattered in magazines and journals, some obscure, some now defunct. But what makes this book indispensible are the accompanying essays by Moorhouse, in which, with a scholar’s eye and an artist’s soul, he examines the record and provides context regarding Henry Lawson.
Matthew Lamb, Sydney Review of Books
The creation of the book was motivated by his “curiosity about the unique survival of The Drover’s Wife”. Over all hovers the fertile mind, the guiding hand, not to say elegant prose, of Moorhouse. Nobody in the book uses the word enchantment in reference to Lawson’s story, but I couldn’t help seeing the story as having cast a kind of spell, as Australia being in thrall to The Drover’s Wife. This Moorhouse fiction, included in this book, is one of the most dazzling Australian short stories ever written. The great thing about this story is its naive, reasonable and flawless tone. Many of the stories here are very funny, one of my favourites being The Drover’s Wife Club by the hilarious James Roberts. If you want to read an engrossing book that is “a celebration of a great Australian love affair”, here’s your chance.
Carmel Bird, The Australian
This book is a curate's egg, but one that charts a changing Australia. It is in turn annoying and engaging, which is no doubt precisely the intent.
Lucy Sussex, The Sydney Morning Herald