AustLit

'Tasmania's Parliament House is a graceful Georgian sandstone building facing the Hobart waterfront. It is here, on the steps of the parliament, that Amanda Lohrey suggested we meet for the interview, so that I could see at firsthand the docks and backstreets of the waterfront that constituted the setting of her first novel, The Morality of Gentlemen. Lohrey has a frank, straightforward manner and a penetrating gaze. There is a steadiness about her, as though others can flap about all they like and she'll wait until they have finished. She has a remarkable voice, deep and sonorous, which holds a calm authority but is very ready to register a wry humour. The first interview was conducted outdoors in October 2018, as Lohrey showed me around the adjacent historic suburb of Battery Point where she spent her early childhood. The interview was recorded on my phone as we walked up and down hilly, narrow streets that are now thoroughly gentrified. The inter-view continued in a cafe in Salamanca Place and continued over email across the subsequent two years. We began, in the streets of Battery Point, by talking about money, real estate, and Lohrey's childhood.' (Introduction)