Tirra Lirra by the River

This is a very very good book and a worthy winner of the Miles Franklin. Though short, about 140 pages, author Jessica Anderson has packed in a life time of emotion with an almost seemingly bitter sweet “autobiographical” work.

The books narrator, 70 year old Nora Porteous, has returned to Brisbane after many years absence and reflects back on her life. She recalls early lost opportunities but also that one daring life decision that would also have been an anathema to the conservative attitudes of her depression years life and times. Generations of women trapped into, and by, the constrictions of those times I could imagine being dragged into the maelstrom of conflicting emotions that are Nora's memories and thoughts.

Reading this as a male in their late 50's I feel that this review hardly does the book justice. Highly recommended.