Henry Handel Richardson – författare

The Getting of Wisdom (1910) is a novel by Henry Handel Richardson. Based on her experiences at Melbourne’s Presbyterian Ladies’ College, The Getting of Wisdom is a coming-of-age novel aimed at a young audience. Engaged with such themes as grief, bullying, and peer-pressure, Richardson’s novel is a powerful story of a young girl finding her way in the world. An instant bestseller, the novel has never gone out of print. “Laura went into her own room and locked the door, a thing Mother did not allow. Then she threw herself on the bed and cried. Mother had not understood in the least…” Punished for cutting her own hair without permission, Laura Tweedle Rambotham defies her mother once more. Alone in her room, she begins to think about her mother’s words, letting them sink in until the truth can no longer be denied. In the morning, she leaves for The Ladies’ College, a boarding school far from family and friends—and in Melbourne, no less, a city she has never been to. Scared, nervous, and tired, she drifts off to sleep in her childhood room for the last time. Heartfelt and deeply personal, The Getting of Wisdom is a powerful coming-of-age story from one of Australia’s best-loved writers. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Henry Handel Richardson The Getting of Wisdom is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.

Australia Felix (1917) is a novel by Henry Handel Richardson. Based on the life of her parents, Australia Felix is the first in a trilogy of novels later published as The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1930). The trilogy has earned praise from countless authors and critics for its startling depictions of a man’s decline due to mental illness and the lengths to which his wife must go to care for their young family. “In a shaft on the Gravel Pits, a man had been buried alive. At work in a deep wet hole, he had recklessly omitted to slab the walls of a drive; uprights and tailors yielded under the lateral pressure, and the rotten earth collapsed, bringing down the roof in its train.” Into this dangerous world of mining, Richard Mahony arrives in search of fortune. As the proprietor of Digger’s Emporium, his business depends on the trust of his customers, most of them rugged, hard-drinking gold miners. But the men find it hard to respect Mahony, a teetotaler whose upper-class sensibilities strike them as snobbish at best, insulting at worst. As his store slowly fails, Richard turns his attention to the young Polly Turnham, a servant at the local hotel. When they marry, Polly suggests to her husband that he abandon his business and turn to medicine instead. His practice in Ballarat is a success, allowing them to start a family and live comfortably—for a time. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Henry Handel Richardson Australia Felix is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.

The Way Home (1925) is a novel by Henry Handel Richardson. Based on the life of her parents, The Way Home is the second in a trilogy of novels later published as The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1930). The trilogy has earned praise from countless authors and critics for its startling depictions of a man’s decline due to mental illness and the lengths to which his wife must go to care for their young family. “In this pleasant spot Richard Mahony had made his home. Here, too, he had found the house of his dreams. It was built of stone—under a tangle of creeper—was very old, very solid: floors did not shake to your tread, and, shut within the four walls of a room, voices lost their carrying power. But its privacy was what he valued most.” After years of struggle in the Australian outback, Richard Mahony returns to his native England to live out his years in comfort and quiet. Although his dreams have been realized, he soon discovers the prejudice with which the wealthy view men who went across the world to make their fortunes. Unable to gain a foothold in the land of his birth, he makes the difficult decision to return to Australia. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Henry Handel Richardson’s The Way Home is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.