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Andrea Goldsmith Andrea Goldsmith i(A31738 works by) (a.k.a. Andrea Elizabeth Goldsmith)
Born: Established: 1950 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Jewish
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BiographyHistory

Born and raised in Melbourne, Andrea Goldsmith trained as a speech pathologist and spent several years working with children. From 1987, she taught creative writing at Deakin University, and her essays have appeared in The Age, Australian Book Review and Island. Goldsmith has given frequent readings of her work and in 1992 toured north-western Victoria with the National Book Council's writers' train.

Her first published novel Gracious Living (1989), was followed by Modern Interiors in 1991, which was shortlisted for the Lysbeth Cohen Award in 1992, Facing the Music (1994) and Under the Knife (1998). Her fifth novel, The Prosperous Thief (2002) spans three continents, and is an epic covering the lives of two vastly different families.

Goldsmith's published works include essays, short stories and travel writing, this last genre based on her love of travel. She has received a grant from the Australia Council and has been involved with the Victorian Writers' Centre mentorship scheme in Melbourne.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Invented Lives Carlton North : Scribe , 2019 14975954 2019 single work novel

'It is the mid-1980s. In Australia, stay-at-home wives jostle with want-it-all feminists, while AIDS threatens the sexual freedom of everyone. On the other side of the world, the Soviet bloc is in turmoil.

'Mikhail Gorbachev has been in power for a year when twenty-four-year-old book illustrator Galina Kogan leaves Leningrad - forbidden ever to return. As a Jew, she's inherited several generations worth of Russia's chronic anti-Semitism. As a Soviet citizen, she is unprepared for Australia and its easy-going ways.

'Once settled in Melbourne, Galina is befriended by Sylvie and Leonard Morrow, and their adult son, Andrew. The Morrow marriage of thirty years balances on secrets. Leonard is a man with conflicted desires and passions, while Sylvie chafes against the confines of domestic life. Their son, Andrew, a successful mosaicist, is a deeply shy man. He is content with his life and work - until he finds himself increasingly drawn to Galina.

'While Galina grapples with the tumultuous demands that come with being an immigrant in Australia, her presence disrupts the lives of each of the Morrows. No one is left unchanged. Invented Lives tells a story of exile - exile from country, exile at home, and exile from one's true self. It is also a story about love.' 

(Publication summary)

2020 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
y separately published work icon The Memory Trap Sydney South : HarperCollins Australia , 2013 Z1908497 2013 single work novel 'The past feeds into the present and often undermines it in this story about marriage, memory and mistakes that can never be forgiven. It features Nina, a memorial consultant and her futurologist husband Daniel: her sister Zoe, a music teacher and Zoe's biographer husband, American ex-alcoholic Elliot. And lastly, there is Ramsay Blake, a genius at the piano but a half-baked human being in every other respect. All the relationships are on shaky ground. As for memory and forgiveness are less reliable than what we would like to think.' (Source: Author's website: http://andreagoldsmith.com.au/the-memory-trap/ )
2015 winner Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award
y separately published work icon The Prosperous Thief Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2002 Z987782 2002 single work novel

'There are thieves who prosper. But are there thefts which can never be forgiven?

'The Prosperous Thief covers the turbulent sweep of the twentieth century. Rich in ideas and emotions, it is an epic story of the entwined lives of two vastly different families spanning three continents.

'Alice Lewin survived the war as a young child. After decades of burying her past she decides to visit the Kindertransport archive, where she learns of the existence of a possible relative, Henry Lewin. She travels to Australia to hear his story, but it's a story that she's in no way prepared to hear.

'The truth has profound ramifications and both Alice's son, Raphe, and Henry's daughter, Laura, struggle to deal with their connected lives. But just as the thefts of the Second World War define their past, so deception threatens their future.

'From the horrors of war to the fiery landscape of one of the world's most active volcanoes, this compelling novel generates its own unsettling shadows.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2003 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
Last amended 11 Aug 2003 10:09:17
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