Jessica Anderson (1) (1916–2010)

I made rather heavy weather of this novel, Jessica Anderson's sixth and the one with which she won the Miles Franklin Award for the second time in 1980. I was expecting it to be as good as Tirra Lirra by the River which had also won the Miles Franklin, in 1978. But for most of Part One The Impersonators is a confusing and somewhat lifeless story of competitors for an inheritance, and I wondered why, in the year that published Elizabeth Jolley's remarkable Palomino, the Miles Franklin judges chose it. (Had they used today's more expansive interpretation of Miles Franklin's terms of her bequest, the judges might well have chosen Shirley Hazzard's brilliant The Transit of Venus, which as Charlotte Wood writes in her essay at the Sydney Review of Books, is a novel exploring Australianness, despite being set almost entirely in Europe and America.)

I wondered what else was on the shortlist. There are no records prior to 1987 so we don't know. Consulting Wikipedia's list of notable Australian books published in 1980 to make an educated guess turned out to be fruitless, since it includes only four titles: The Impersonators, The Transit of Venus, Palomino and The Dying Trade by Peter Corris, which is a crime novel.

Published as The Only Daughter in the US, The Impersonators concerns Sylvie, who like her creator, has spent some years in London. She is the only daughter of Jack Cornock and by coincidence has come back from her love affair with Europe just at the time that Jack has had a stroke and is expected to die. Why she, and not her brother Stewart (a real estate agent) is the subject of speculation about getting all his money is a mystery I failed to solve.

Sylvie is not actually interested in money. She is content to live a simple life as a teacher of Italian in order to spent half the year travelling. But other members of the family do need an injection of cash. Jack married twice. His first wife Molly, is a tedious, ignorant woman who lets her second husband Ken bully her about her spending habits and is still so aggrieved by the divorce that she never mentions Jack's second wife by name. She wants Sylvie to get the lot at the expense of Greta, the second wife who brought four children to the marriage after the death of her husband 31 years ago. These four children are unlikeable, with the possible exception of Harry, Greta's oldest child, who wastes no time in launching a relationship with Sylvie. He's divorced, and so is she, but still, it seems mildly incestuous, even though there is no blood relationship between the two.

(There is a family tree depicting the relationship between Jack's two families, and just as well because I kept needing to refer to it.)

Rosamund, Greta's second child, is married to Ted Kitching, whose business is failing. She is loyal and supportive until she learns that he is not only a crook, but an unrepentant one who will emerge unscathed while the shareholders lose everything.

Greta's third child Hermione is married to Steven Fyfe, and is obsessed by Sydney real estate. She wastes a lot of Stewart's time looking at expensive houses they can't afford. For those of us who've never paid any attention to the petty snobberies of Sydney postcodes this preoccupation is a bit arcane.

Guy, in his early thirties, was a charming child who's become a boor.

These children all want Sylvie to sweet-talk her father into making compassionate provision for Greta, because of course, they will eventually inherit from her.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/03/13/the-impersonators-by-jessica-anderson/… (lisätietoja)

This is part of the Text Classics series, forgotten books by Australian writers. It is Jessica Anderson's only historical novel, set in the penal colony of Moreton Bay, in the vicinity of current-day Brisbane. The prisoners are re-offenders, treated as hardened criminals who can be controlled only by severe physical punishment. The commander, Patrick Logan, is notorious for the harsh treatment he metes out, with 100 lashes the norm for even minor infractions. A journalist in Sydney has published a rumour that Logan's excessive punishment has killed a prisoner, and Logan is suing for slander, but is unable to see that the court case will put his reputation and career at risk. Logan himself believes that he is carrying out the Governor's orders, and that the Governor will back him, but the government in England has changed, as have policies on the treatment of prisoners. The Governor has sent a Captain, the same rank as Logan, ostensibly as a replacement for a Lieutenant but, unknown to Logan, in reality to take over his command.

The Commandant dominates the book, but he is a background figure. In the foreground are his wife Letty, her sister Frances, and the two doctors. The doctors deal with the aftermath of Logan's punishments, but the women remain unaware until a domestic incident results in a revelation.

The Commandant is based on real events and real people. Logan is remembered for his exploration of the land around Brisbane, as well as for his notorious cruelty.… (lisätietoja)

I found this book on the 1001 books to read before you die list. It is Australian historical fiction that explores prison settlements in 1800s Australian. Idealistic Frances goes to a work camp to live with her sister who is married to the officer in charge of the prison, the Commandant.

The premise was really interesting, but this book just didn't work for me. The trajectory of character development wasn't even and I felt like the plot kept shifting focus. At first Frances and her struggle to understand the different political ideologies in Australia was the focus. But then it sort of shifts more to the Commandant and his job security. And then there are a few moments where it seems like it might be heading to a romance novel feel.

If this is a confused review, it's because I really lost interest and lost the train of thought in this book. Maybe I needed a better background in 1800s Australia to really get into this book.

Original publication date: 1975
Author’s nationality: Australian
Original language: English
Length: 339 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: kindle purchase
Why I read this: 1001 books… (lisätietoja)