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y separately published work icon Sibyl's Cave single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 Sibyl's Cave
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Steeped in the landscape and colours of its locations, Sibyl's Cave follows the orphaned Billie through her childhood in Italy to the United Kingdom during World War II with her adopted family, to art school and then, finally, to her new life as an adult in Australia. Interrupting the reclusive island life that Billie shares with Troy her housekeeper and Stan her housemate on the Hawkesbury River, Billie's niece Lorelei and her daughter Elissa arrive unannounced from England. As their lives intertwine stories emerge and secrets are unveiled.(Back cover).

Notes

  • Originally submitted as part of a PhD thesis (2001) with the title 'Leavings' (Email from author August 2005).
  • Dedication:[For] Dad.
  • Book launched at Gleebooks, Sydney by Debra Adelaide on 14 January 2004 and at Readers' Feast Bookstore, Melbourne by Alex Miller on 22 January 2004.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2004 .
      image of person or book cover 121301854308195464.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 303p.
      ISBN: 1865089524

Works about this Work

Relentless Light Catherine Padmore , 2008 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Island , Autumn no. 112 2008; (p. 43-48)
Fragmented and Entwined: Migration Stories in Sibyl's Cave and Other Australian Fiction Catherine Padmore , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 5 2006; (p. 25-38)

'As a writer, a reader and a migrant, I am interested in the gaps in migration narratives and in where the stories touch other stories. These features suggest the difficulty of capturing the enormity of the migrational shift in one narrative and offer a sense of the nuances contained within a single person's experiences of migration. In this article I explore some ways in which individual migration stories have similar fragmented structures and make dynamic connections to wider stories, using examples from my own and other Australian fiction.'

In addition to her own work, Sibyl's Cave, Padmore refers to Eva Sallis's Hiam (1998), Arnold Zable's Cafe Scheherazade (2001), Peter Lyssiotis and Nick Petroulias's 'New Troy' (2000) and Rosa Cappiello's Oh, Lucky Country [Paese Fortunato] (1984). 'Some of these works have fragmented structures and all contain intertextual links to other stories. The embedded stories in these texts are often not Australian in origin but have travelled to Australia from elsewhere, reflecting the migrational history that shapes one aspect of contemporary Australian identity.'

Affairs of the Heart Sussan Khadem , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 177 2004; (p. 95-96)

— Review of Lessons from the Heart John Clanchy , 2003 single work novel ; Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel ; Three Dog Night Peter Goldsworthy , 2003 single work novel
Spin Cycle Eleanor Thomas , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Limelight , January 2004; (p. 44)

— Review of Spinning Around Catherine Jinks , 2004 single work novel ; Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel
Who Invented This Rule Anyway? Anna Goldsworthy , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 261 2004; (p. 46-47)

— Review of Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel ; The Submerged Cathedral Charlotte Wood , 2004 single work novel
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 3 January 2004; (p. 12)

— Review of God's Concubine Sara Douglass , 2003 single work novel ; Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel
The Many Paintings of a Cave Dweller Cathy Peake , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-11 January 2004; (p. 16)

— Review of Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel
Untitled Mary Ellen Jordan , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , November vol. 83 no. 5 2003; (p. 44)

— Review of Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel
Who Invented This Rule Anyway? Anna Goldsworthy , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 261 2004; (p. 46-47)

— Review of Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel ; The Submerged Cathedral Charlotte Wood , 2004 single work novel
Spin Cycle Eleanor Thomas , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Limelight , January 2004; (p. 44)

— Review of Spinning Around Catherine Jinks , 2004 single work novel ; Sibyl's Cave Catherine Padmore , 2004 single work novel
Fragmented and Entwined: Migration Stories in Sibyl's Cave and Other Australian Fiction Catherine Padmore , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 5 2006; (p. 25-38)

'As a writer, a reader and a migrant, I am interested in the gaps in migration narratives and in where the stories touch other stories. These features suggest the difficulty of capturing the enormity of the migrational shift in one narrative and offer a sense of the nuances contained within a single person's experiences of migration. In this article I explore some ways in which individual migration stories have similar fragmented structures and make dynamic connections to wider stories, using examples from my own and other Australian fiction.'

In addition to her own work, Sibyl's Cave, Padmore refers to Eva Sallis's Hiam (1998), Arnold Zable's Cafe Scheherazade (2001), Peter Lyssiotis and Nick Petroulias's 'New Troy' (2000) and Rosa Cappiello's Oh, Lucky Country [Paese Fortunato] (1984). 'Some of these works have fragmented structures and all contain intertextual links to other stories. The embedded stories in these texts are often not Australian in origin but have travelled to Australia from elsewhere, reflecting the migrational history that shapes one aspect of contemporary Australian identity.'

Relentless Light Catherine Padmore , 2008 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Island , Autumn no. 112 2008; (p. 43-48)

Awards

2005 commended Commonwealth Writers Prize South East Asia and South Pacific Region Best First Book
2001 shortlisted The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript)
Last amended 22 May 2017 10:39:15
Settings:
  • c
    Italy,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • c
    Australia,
    c
  • Hawkesbury area, Northwest Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,
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