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'Dolly Maunder was born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society’s long-locked doors were finally starting to creak ajar for women. Born into a poor farming family in country New South Wales but clever, energetic and determined, she spent her restless life pushing at those doors.
'Most women like Dolly have more or less disappeared from view, remembered only in a family photo album as a remote figure in impossible clothes, and maybe for a lemon-pudding recipe. Restless Dolly Maunder brings one of them to life as a person we can recognise and whose struggles we can empathise with.
'In this novel, Kate Grenville uses family memories and research to imagine her way into the life of her grandmother. This is the story of a woman born into a world of limits and obstacles who was able—though at a cost—to make a life for herself. Her battles and triumphs helped to open doors for the women who came after.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Truth, with Great Flashes of Scarlet
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12-13 August 2023; (p. 15)
— Review of Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel - y Kate Grenville in Conversation Yves Rees (interviewer), 2023 26809759 2023 single work podcast interview
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Mirrors on Misery : A Brilliant Portrait of an Unhappy Marriage
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 457 2023; (p. 33)
— Review of Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel'In Restless Dolly Maunder, Kate Grenville weaves a fictional narrative around her grandmother, a woman she remembers as ‘aloof, thin, frowning, cranky’, and knew through her mother’s stories as ‘uncaring, selfish, unloving. Even a bit mad.’' (Introduction)
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In Restless Dolly Maunder, Kate Grenville Recreates the Enterprising Life of an Obscure Historical Figure
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 3 August 2023;
— Review of Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel'Dolly Maunder, born in 1881, is the sixth of seven children of a sheep-farming family outside Tamworth in northern New South Wales. Their lives are a relentless round of hard work, indoors and out, relieved only a by few brief years at the local one-teacher school.' (Introduction)
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Life Sentences
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Monthly , August 2023; (p. 74)
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‘Exciting’, ‘Bold’, ‘Laugh Out Loud’ : The Best Australian Books Out in July
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 July 2023;
— Review of Wifedom : Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life 2023 single work biography ; The Scope of Permissibility 2023 single work novel ; The Pole and Other Stories 2023 selected work short story ; Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel -
In Restless Dolly Maunder, Kate Grenville Recreates the Enterprising Life of an Obscure Historical Figure
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 3 August 2023;
— Review of Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel'Dolly Maunder, born in 1881, is the sixth of seven children of a sheep-farming family outside Tamworth in northern New South Wales. Their lives are a relentless round of hard work, indoors and out, relieved only a by few brief years at the local one-teacher school.' (Introduction)
-
Mirrors on Misery : A Brilliant Portrait of an Unhappy Marriage
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 457 2023; (p. 33)
— Review of Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel'In Restless Dolly Maunder, Kate Grenville weaves a fictional narrative around her grandmother, a woman she remembers as ‘aloof, thin, frowning, cranky’, and knew through her mother’s stories as ‘uncaring, selfish, unloving. Even a bit mad.’' (Introduction)
-
Truth, with Great Flashes of Scarlet
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12-13 August 2023; (p. 15)
— Review of Restless Dolly Maunder 2023 single work novel -
Women Unchained
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 July 2023; (p. 6)'KATE GRENVILLE tells how her grandmother Dolly - the subject of her new book - railed against society’s shackles at the turn of the 20th century Grandmothers are supposed to be cosy creatures, all scones and big warm hugs. Mine wasn’t – she was cranky, frowning, scary. My mother’s stories portrayed Grandma as an unloving bully. “Why did my mother never love me?” Mum would ask, and I had no answers.' (Introduction)
-
Life Sentences
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Monthly , August 2023; (p. 74) - y Kate Grenville in Conversation Yves Rees (interviewer), 2023 26809759 2023 single work podcast interview
Awards
- 2024 longlisted Women's Prize Trust Awards — Women's Prize for Fiction (UK)
- 2024 longlisted Indie Awards — Fiction