AustLit

'Miles Franklin’s 1942 homage to Henry Lawson was the twentieth annual commemorative speech to this revered Australian author. Each year after his death admirers, family members and friends of Lawson would get together in Melbourne and Sydney to give speeches and celebrate his legacy. But the question of where to commentate him needed to be resolved. In 1927 the renowned local artist George W. Lambert submitted a model for a bronze statue of the author to the Henry Lawson Memorial Committee. Money was raised and the statue was commissioned: it shows a lithe Lawson in baggy trousers and rolled-up sleeves, possibly reciting to an audience, with a swagman sitting on one side and a sheep dog on the other.' (Introduction)

'Part II :1938-39 establishes the friendship of Cusack and Franklin which develops during their collaboration on the scandalous sesqui-centennial satire Pioneers on Parade. In Part III:1945-47, Cusack and James, both burnt out at the end of WWII, set up a writing retreat in the Blue Mountains and collaborate on their prizewinning bestseller expose of wartime Sydney, Come In Spinner.

In Part IV: 1947-49, James returns to London and Cusack follows through the revisions demanded by the Daily Telegraph before they will award the thousand pounds prize money. Cusack is also researching her "tuberculosis novel" Say No To Death. All That Swagger is published by Angus & Robertson whilst Franklin endures her nephew's war neurosis and makes her final Will, providing for an annual [Miles] Franklin Award. In mid-1949 Cusack leaves for Europe.

'In Part V:1950-55 the Cusack-Franklin-James friendships are now essentially carried through their correspondence; Come In Spinner is published to press acclaim in London, with Cusack's Say No To Death, Southern Steel and Caddie following in quick succession. Angus & Robertson finally began publishing the "Brent of Bin Bin" series. James, now divorced, rearing two daughters, begins work with London publisher Constable & Co as a reader and talent scout for Australian writers. Franklin and Cusack's friendship provides the emotional fulcrum for this final Part.

'The Chronology (1879-2001) provides the facts of the lives and works; the Biographical Notes provide an inventory of most of the cast of characters who appear in the letters.'(Publication summary)

'Miles Franklin wrote the first of these letters at Brindabella in 1887, over a decade before she started My Brilliant Career, the novel that famously propelled her out of the bush and on to Sydney and the world. The correspondence follows her to the Women′s Trade Union League in Chicago, to war work in the Balkans, to a return to writing in London, and finally home in the 1930s.

'After her nearly thirty years away, the letters now more than ever allowed Miles to share with "her congenials" - friends in England, Europe, the USA and Australia - experiences, memories and, above all, her commitment to Australian literature. The last letter in this collection was written only sixteen days before her death.

'As well as Miles Franklin′s own witty and provocative correspondence, the selection includes letters from her life-long friends, such as Alice Henry and Vida Goldstein, Katharine Susannah Pritchard, Dymphna Cusack and Beatrice Davis.

'Selected and edited by Jill Roe, the letters crackle with the surprises of a life richly lived.' (From the publisher's website, second edition.)