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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'From the bustling streets of China, to the ominous Cell 16 in an old asylum building, to the familiar sounds and sight of galahs flying over a Victorian farm, A Brief Affair is a tender love story. On the face of it, Dr Frances Egan is a woman who has it all-a loving family and a fine career until a brief, perfect affair reveals to her an imaginative dimension to her life that is wholly her own. Fran finds the courage and the inspiration to risk everything and change her direction at the age of forty-two. This newfound understanding of herself is fortified by the discovery of a long-forgotten diary from the asylum and the story it reveals. Written with humour, sensitivity and the wisdom for which Miller's work is famous, this exquisitely compassionate novel explores the interior life and the dangerous navigation of love in all its forms.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication:
for Stephanie
&
for my mother and her old people, the Egans of Ballyragget
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Selected as one of the Guardian Australia best Australian books of 2022
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
[Review] A Brief Affair
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 160 2023;
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel -
A Time of Stone : Alex Miller’s Thirteenth Novel
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 32)
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel 'Frances Egan, ‘a smart-looking woman of forty-two’, seems to lead a charmed life. A scholar of national distinction in the field of management, she was recently shoehorned into the role of head of school by a vice-chancellor who needed a woman ‘for the appearance of the thing’. Driven by ambition (she wants to be a professor), she accepted. She and her husband, Tom, a cabinetmaker committed to traditional methods of woodcraft, live with their two children, Margie and ‘little Tommy’, on a farm near Castlemaine they bought last year, fulfilling a lifelong dream.'(Introduction)
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A Brief Affair with Lasting Consequences
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 November 2022; (p. 16)
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel -
A Brief Affair by Alex Miller Review – a Moving Study of Female Passion
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 November 2022;
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel'The Miles Franklin-winning author returns to fiction with a deftly woven domestic drama that explores one woman’s state of mind in midlife'
-
A Brief Affair by Alex Miller Review – a Moving Study of Female Passion
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 November 2022;
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel'The Miles Franklin-winning author returns to fiction with a deftly woven domestic drama that explores one woman’s state of mind in midlife'
-
A Brief Affair with Lasting Consequences
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 November 2022; (p. 16)
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel -
A Time of Stone : Alex Miller’s Thirteenth Novel
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 32)
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel 'Frances Egan, ‘a smart-looking woman of forty-two’, seems to lead a charmed life. A scholar of national distinction in the field of management, she was recently shoehorned into the role of head of school by a vice-chancellor who needed a woman ‘for the appearance of the thing’. Driven by ambition (she wants to be a professor), she accepted. She and her husband, Tom, a cabinetmaker committed to traditional methods of woodcraft, live with their two children, Margie and ‘little Tommy’, on a farm near Castlemaine they bought last year, fulfilling a lifelong dream.'(Introduction)
-
[Review] A Brief Affair
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 160 2023;
— Review of A Brief Affair 2022 single work novel
Awards
- 2023 longlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Commercial Fiction Cover designed by Sandy Cull.
Last amended 8 Sep 2023 13:28:49
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