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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'This is the story of Dame Lena Gaunt: musician, octogenarian, junkie. Lena is Music's Most Modern Musician; the first theremin player of the twentieth century. From the obscurity of a Perth boarding school to a glittering career on the world stage, Lena Gaunt's life will be made and torn apart by those she gives her heart to.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Epigraph:
To see [her] play a piece of music on the theremin is to be reminded of a boy doing tricks on a bicycle. For, like a boy who rides with 'no hands', [she] plays this instrument without touching it - by merely waving [her] hands over it.
- Mary Day Winn from a Baltimore newspaper, 1948
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Epigraph:
I am electrical by nature, music is the electric soil in which the spirit lives, thinks, and invents.
- Attributed to Ludwic van Beethoven from Erik Davis, 'Recording Angels', The Wire, January, 1999
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Epigraph:
Astronomers say they have heard the sound of a black hole singing. And what it is singing, and perhaps has been singing for more than two billion years, they say, is B flat - a B flat 57 octaves lower than middle C...The black hole is playing 'the lowest note in the universe,' said Dr. Andrew Fabian, an X-ray astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at Cambridge University in England.
- The New York Times, 16th September, 2003
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Dedication: For my grandmothers.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
-
Tracy Farr : The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , October 2014;
— Review of The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 2012 single work novel -
Well Read
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 24 August 2013; (p. 26)
— Review of Cairo 2013 single work novel ; The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 2012 single work novel -
WA Writing Recommends
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 27 August 2013; (p. 6)
— Review of Hatched : Celebrating 20 Years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers 2013 anthology short story ; The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 2012 single work novel ; Unearthed 2013 selected work poetry ; Zac and Mia 2013 single work novel ; Zero at the Bone 2013 single work novel -
What I’m Reading
2013
single work
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2013;
-
WA Writing Recommends
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 27 August 2013; (p. 6)
— Review of Hatched : Celebrating 20 Years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers 2013 anthology short story ; The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 2012 single work novel ; Unearthed 2013 selected work poetry ; Zac and Mia 2013 single work novel ; Zero at the Bone 2013 single work novel -
Well Read
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 24 August 2013; (p. 26)
— Review of Cairo 2013 single work novel ; The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 2012 single work novel -
Tracy Farr : The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , October 2014;
— Review of The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 2012 single work novel -
What I’m Reading
2013
single work
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2013;
Awards
- 2014 shortlisted Barbara Jefferis Award
- 2014 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Fiction
- 2014 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award