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The Catherine Wheel

The Catherine Wheel: Text Classics

Text Classics

Elizabeth Harrower

Introduction by Ramona Koval

The wind from Siberia as announced by the BBC came down Bayswater Road from the direction of Marble Arch…Searing skin, and petrifying metal and wood, it took possession of London and this early day of the new year. Gently, somehow sympathetically, with a secret sort of throb, my ears ached against it, but rather more drearily and with a sense of injustice my eyes watered as I narrowed them at the steely dark sky and swirling smoke. The centre of the universe! The brilliance of the winter season!

Twenty-five-year-old Clemency James has moved from Sydney to a chilly bedsit on the other side of the world. During the day she studies for the bar by correspondence; in the evenings she gives French lessons to earn a meagre wage. When she meets Christian, a charismatic would-be actor, she can see he’s trouble—not least because he’s involved with an older woman who has children. She is drawn to him nonetheless: drawn into his world of unpayable debts and wild promises.

First published in 1960, The Catherine Wheel is Elizabeth Harrower’s third novel and the only one of her books not set in Australia. In it she turns her unflinching gaze on the grim realities of 1950s London, and the madness that can infect couples.

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Elizabeth Harrower
About the Author

Elizabeth Harrower was born in Sydney in 1928 and moved to London in 1951. She travelled extensively and began to write fiction. Her first novel Down in the City was published in 1957, and was followed by The Long Prospect a year later. In 1959 she returned to Sydney where she began working for the ABC and as a book reviewer for the Sydney...

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Ramona Koval
About the Introducer

Ramona Koval is a writer and journalist, a former broadcaster, and an honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Advancing Journalism. Her books include Bloodhound: Searching for My Father (2015) and By the Book: A Reader’s Guide to Life (2012).

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Extent:
352pp
Format:
Paperback
Text publication date:
27 August 2014
First published:
1960
ISBN:
9781922147950
AU Price:
$14.95
NZ Price:
$17.99
Australian
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Praise for Elizabeth Harrower
andThe Catherine Wheel

‘I love The Watch Tower, but I love The Catherine Wheel more. Like all the Harrower books, with their psychological mysteries, their droll humour, their brilliant language and ear for voices, The Catherine Wheel takes your hand from the first page and beckons you in.’

‘A brilliant achievement.’

‘First published in 1966, this book has traces of Patrick White mixed with the darkness of the brothers Grimm. It is a great novel due a rediscovery in the way that Stoner was championed by John McGahern.’

‘ A remarkable achievement.’

‘Rich and rewarding.’

The Catherine Wheel is a great starting point for those new to Harrower’s work, those readers who are unafraid to face the darker aspects of desire we’re sometimes too ashamed to acknowledge.’

Other editions ofThe Catherine Wheel
  • The Catherine Wheel
    ebook
    ISBN: 9781922148957
    27 August 2014
    Buy ebook