AustLit

Andrea Goldsmith has published seven novels, most recently The Memory Trap (2013) and Reunion (2009). I had not met her before I visited her home in an inner suburb of Melbourne to record this interview, but I had read her 2002 novel The Prosperous Thief with great admiration, and we had recently corresponded by email over our shared appreciation of Iris Murdoch. She had written a very kind review of my 2003 publication of interviews with Iris Murdoch, From a Tiny Corner in the House of Fiction, so it seemed fitting that I interview her for Writers in Conversation. I sent her some questions a few weeks before we met, and these provided a loose framework for our discussion.

'Goldsmith lives in the roomy modern town house she shared for many years with her late partner, the poet Dorothy Porter, who died five years ago, although she is clearly still very much a presence in Goldsmith’s life. We sat in a comfortable room at the back of the house, looking out on a pleasant courtyard garden. Her dog Lotte, an affectionate, well-behaved poodle, shared the sofa during much of our conversation. Contented canine snufflings often appear on the recording, though I couldn’t find a way to notate them in the transcript.

'We recorded the interview and then kept talking about life, the universe and everything for more than an hour over tea and lemon tart. When it was time to go, Andrea offered to walk me to the railway station, and as we left, to our shared delight, it began to rain for the first time in many weeks. She lent me an umbrella, but preferred to walk in the rain. An enduring image from that day is the petite author skipping down the street, greeting her neighbours in unselfconscious ecstasy at the breaking of the drought.' (Introduction)