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Myself When Young

Myself When Young: Text Classics

Text Classics

Henry Handel Richardson

Introduction by Brenda Niall

It has never been my way to say much about my private life. Rightly or wrongly, I believed this only concerned myself. And I trusted to my husband to supply, on my death, any further information that might be asked for. Now that he is gone, however, there is no one to take his place, and so I propose to jot down a few facts about myself, and memories of my childhood, which may possibly be of interest to some who have read my books.

So begins Myself When Young (first published posthumously, in 1948) Henry Handel Richardson’s frank and engaging account of her childhood living in the post offices of various rural towns, her adolescence at boarding school in Melbourne that would form the basis of her much loved novel The Getting of Wisdom, her time in Leipzig studying music and her early years of marriage. With insights into the inspiration for some of her most famous characters, and comments on the response to her depiction of those characters and events following the publication of her early novels, Myself When Young is not only a marvellous account of a life, but a fascinating companion to the fictional works of one of our greatest novelists.

About the Author

Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson was born into an affluent Melbourne family in 1870. Her father Walter was a doctor of medicine. When Richardson was nine he died of syphilis after being admitted to Melbourne’s Kew mental asylum. His illness and suffering had a huge impact on his family.

After his death, Richardson’s mother took her children...

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Brenda Niall
About the Introducer

Brenda Niall is one of Australia’s foremost biographers. She is the author of several award-winning biographies, including her acclaimed accounts of the Boyd family and her portrait of the Durack sisters, True North. In 2016 she won the Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal and the National Biography Award for Mannix. In 2004 she was...

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Extent:
192pp
Format:
Paperback
Text publication date:
6 August 2019
ISBN:
9781925773958
AU Price:
$14.95
NZ Price:
$17.99
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Praise for Henry Handel Richardson
andMyself When Young

‘A gorgeous coming-of-age story that is both charming and deeply moving.’

‘More than any other novel in our literature, more than Voss, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony deserves the accolade of the Great Australian Novel… it is a mighty and moving work, this bursting at the seams anti-epic to the muse of a vanity which sees every golden bowl broken and every silver cord loosed.’

Other editions ofMyself When Young
  • Myself When Young
    ebook
    ISBN: 9781925774719
    6 August 2019
    Buy ebook