A Family Romance: Deakins At Home

Author: John Rickard

Stock information

General Fields

Price : 29.99 AUD
ISBN : 9780522847406
Publisher : Melbourne University Press
Imprint : Melbourne University Press
Contained items :
Weight (g) : 0.275
Publication date : October 1992
Dimensions : 216mm X 140mm X 15mm
Produced in : Australia
RRP : 29.99
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Product Type : books

Special Fields

Author : John Rickard
Bind : Paperback
Edition : 1
Pages : 182
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Signed :

9780522847406

Description

A Family Romance is the story of the family of Alfred Deakin, Australia's first elected Prime Minister. In this intriguing book, John Rickard explores the complex web of relationships between Alfred, his wife Pattie, and his sister Catherine. The Deakin 'family romance' is permeated by the influence of spiritualism which, in extraordinary circumstances, brought Alfred and Pattie together, and which was to haunt their marriage. It is a tale which, with its Gothic overtones, has the character of a novel, but which, in its telling, poses questions about the nature of biography. How can we bring to life the emotional world inhabited by such a familyandmdash;or must that territory be conceded to the novelist? John Rickard beautifully evokes the life of a middle-class Australian family at the turn of the century, and gives us the untold story behind the public achievements of great man.