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'The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction collects captivating stories of love and passion, longing and regret. In these tales women arriving in the New World make decisions about relationships and marriage, social conventions, finances and career-and even the future of the nation itself. The "slim and graceful" Australian girl becomes a new character type: independent, self-possessed and full of promise. These stories also show women gaining experience about the world, and the men, around them. They are put to the test by a new life and a new place. And not every relationship works out well.
The best of colonial Australian romance fiction is collected in this anthology, from writers such as Ada Cambridge, Rosa Praed, Francis Adams, Henry Lawson, Mura Leigh and many others.' (From the publisher's website.)
Contents
-
The Desolate Homestead,
single work
short story
romance
Romantic tragedy. A young Englishman establishes a house for his youthful bride only to discover that she has been seduced on the ship out and has fled with her lover. The husband watches over her and when she is cast off provides her with the home he has prepared but he leaves. She dies of sorrow, and, several years after, having returned to England to prevent the marriage of her seducer, he dies too. Well told. (PB)
- A Romance of Coma, single work short story romance (p. 28-36)
-
Twelve Miles Broad,
single work
short story
romance
Australian tale of bushfire and romance. Christmas Day 1884 sees the narrator gallop across the dry tinder bushland to the home of his beloved Gretchen and her German father. A vengeful swagman, refusing to take his lunch and go peaceably, ignites a bushfire that destroys the homestead and nearly catches the escaping couple. Only one horse remaining at the homestead, the father had shot himself to persuade his daughter to go ... Well-told; still with an eye to the English reader. (PB)
- Barren Love, single work short story (p. 45-58)
- Victims of Circe, single work short story (p. 59-91)
- Miss Jackson, single work short story (p. 92-99)
- Elsie Nowell A Bush Girl, single work short story (p. 100-112)
-
Lorna Travis : A Christmas Story,
single work
short story
romance
Family saga, set in Toorak, Melbourne in the late 1880s after the Crash. Lorna is wooed by rich, middle-aged, unpleasant George Langly - favoured by her mother for his money - and handsome Colin Rooke, friend of her brother Lynn returning from colonial experience in Queensland. Pressure exerted by Langly through his mortgage over their family home is frustrated when Colin's sister identifies him as the husband who deserted her in America - her claims supported by the opera singer he abandoned after marrying her bigamously. Colin's recall of £50,000 in Broken Hill mining shares are the icing on the cake ... Pleasant tale of wealthy lives in post-Boom Melbourne. Full descriptions of balls and gardens. (PB)
- A Love Story, single work short story humour romance (p. 144)
-
An Unfinished Love Story,
single work
short story
Brook visits the selection he left fifteen years before. While there he amuses himself by courting the tenant's plain and unworldly niece, but leaves her behind when he returns to the city.
- A Sweet Day, single work short story (p. 150-163)
- Larrikin of Diamond Creek, single work short story romance (p. 164-174)
- Cross Currents, single work short story romance (p. 175-201)
- The Inside Station, single work short story historical fiction romance (p. 202-214)
- The Red Kangaroo, single work short story romance (p. 215-223)
- The Housekeeper, single work short story romance (p. 224-240)
- A Book of Verses, single work short story romance (p. 241-250)
- The Bushman's Love Story, single work short story romance (p. 251-269)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
[Review] The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Reviews in Australian Studies , vol. 6 no. 1 2012; (p. 1-2)
— Review of Brian Castro's Fiction : The Seductive Play of Language 2008 multi chapter work criticism ; The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
[Review Essay] The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
2012
single work
essay
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Colonial History , no. 14 2012; (p. 291-292)'These carefully selected stories, set in the second half of the nineteenth and into the first decade of the twentieth centuries, reveal much about the attitudes of the writers and their reading audience, and about the social and cultural environments in which they lived. As was the custom, the 'lower classes' are barely, if ever, mentioned. These are stories for the well-to-do by the well-to-do, and individual Aborigines, white stockmen, and other 'working-class' folk, do not feature as protagonists. In their introduction, 'Colonial Australian Romance Fiction', Gelder and Weaver concentrate on ways in which female heroines are portrayed in the collection, suggesting that the girls and women are often seen as 'refreshingly different' (p. 5). On the whole, they are independent, strong willed and, at the same time, well prepared to take on the role of the responsible wife. There is an emphasis, too, on the move from innocence to experience.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , June vol. 26 no. 2 2011; (p. 118-120)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction Edited by Ken Gelder and Rachael Weaver
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 10 2010;
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
[Review] The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 70 no. 2 2010; (p. 212-214)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract
-
Romantic Predicaments
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 12 April 2010; (p. 7)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
Off the Shelf : Anthology
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 17 April 2010; (p. 28)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
Books
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 8 May 2010; (p. 28-29)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract ; Miles of Post and Wire 1998 single work life story -
Fleeting Colonial Moments
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 321 2010; (p. 39-40)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
[Review] The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 70 no. 2 2010; (p. 212-214)
— Review of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction 2010 anthology short story extract -
[Review Essay] The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
2012
single work
essay
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Colonial History , no. 14 2012; (p. 291-292)'These carefully selected stories, set in the second half of the nineteenth and into the first decade of the twentieth centuries, reveal much about the attitudes of the writers and their reading audience, and about the social and cultural environments in which they lived. As was the custom, the 'lower classes' are barely, if ever, mentioned. These are stories for the well-to-do by the well-to-do, and individual Aborigines, white stockmen, and other 'working-class' folk, do not feature as protagonists. In their introduction, 'Colonial Australian Romance Fiction', Gelder and Weaver concentrate on ways in which female heroines are portrayed in the collection, suggesting that the girls and women are often seen as 'refreshingly different' (p. 5). On the whole, they are independent, strong willed and, at the same time, well prepared to take on the role of the responsible wife. There is an emphasis, too, on the move from innocence to experience.' (Introduction)