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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'For children of somewhat older growth, Ethel Turner has an irresistible appeal. In this book the authoress has drawn a girl who is not merely a girl, but is girlhood, too. To follow Nicola, the heroine, in her first glimpse of a large city, and through her first shopping ecstasies, is girlhood at its best. Nicola has a dream of writing a beautiful book (most girls have at one time or an other) and she does: and the telling of how she does it, and what experiences go to the making of the book, is a beautiful book itself.'
Source:
'Have You Read?', The World's News, 15 November 1924, p.14.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
'Thou Oughtest to be Mine' : Father and Lover in Ethel Turner's Nicola Silver
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 37 no. 3 1992; (p. 71-78) -
Writing the Home : The Literary Careers of Ethel Turner and L. M. Montgomery
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 175-180) Niall discusses the literary careers of Australian writer Ethel Turner and Canadian writer L. M. Montgomery with attention to how, as contemporaries, their experiences often paralleled one another. She argues that Turner revolutionized Australian children's literature by bringing 'the action indoors and show[ing] that suburban Australia could be at least as interesting as the outback' (175). As Niall points out 'traditionally, Australian writers have concerned themselves with the city or the bush; there is very little representation of small town communities or closely settled farming districts' (178-179). Up until the 1960s there was very little development of novels that celebrate regionalism and Niall cites Colin Thiele's The Sun on the Stubble as 'perhaps the best example of an emerging regional tradition' (179). While Montgomery's recurring motif was 'the orphan's search for a home', Turner's novels often centred on the struggle of an individual or family 'with poverty or a father's tyranny as the source of conflict' (178), and featured independent and resourceful heroines who often had to choose between 'a career as a writer or artist and marriage and motherhood' (176).
-
Writing the Home : The Literary Careers of Ethel Turner and L. M. Montgomery
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 175-180) Niall discusses the literary careers of Australian writer Ethel Turner and Canadian writer L. M. Montgomery with attention to how, as contemporaries, their experiences often paralleled one another. She argues that Turner revolutionized Australian children's literature by bringing 'the action indoors and show[ing] that suburban Australia could be at least as interesting as the outback' (175). As Niall points out 'traditionally, Australian writers have concerned themselves with the city or the bush; there is very little representation of small town communities or closely settled farming districts' (178-179). Up until the 1960s there was very little development of novels that celebrate regionalism and Niall cites Colin Thiele's The Sun on the Stubble as 'perhaps the best example of an emerging regional tradition' (179). While Montgomery's recurring motif was 'the orphan's search for a home', Turner's novels often centred on the struggle of an individual or family 'with poverty or a father's tyranny as the source of conflict' (178), and featured independent and resourceful heroines who often had to choose between 'a career as a writer or artist and marriage and motherhood' (176). -
'Thou Oughtest to be Mine' : Father and Lover in Ethel Turner's Nicola Silver
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 37 no. 3 1992; (p. 71-78)
Last amended 17 Jun 2021 16:28:20
Subjects:
- Sydney, New South Wales,
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