8 January 2007

Writers Talk: Jessica White

Novel: A Curious Intimacy
Author: Jessica White
Date: Thursday 12 March 2009
Time: 12.40pm
Room: Building 25, Room 128

In 1999 Jessica White completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts/Bachelor of Arts, BCA BA (Hons) at the University of Wollongong, majoring in Creative Writing with the School of Journalism & Creative Writing. She recently submitted her PhD with the London Consortium (University of London) on written communication between England & Australia.

In January 2007, Viking (Penguin Australia) published her first book in paperback A Curious Intimacy. She spent 7 years writing the book, an account of a Nineteenth Century lady botanist and her relationship with a young woman battling isolation and madness in frontier Western Australia.

Set in the 1870’s, Jessica’s novel is a story about love, resilience, independence and the courage of extraordinary women living in a difficult time.

Jessica will be returning to the Faculty of Creative Arts to share a reading and discussion about her novel on Thursday 12 March 2009. Refreshments will be served. All are welcome to attend.

“In the 1870s two remarkable women meet in a remote country town in Western Australia. Ingrid is a botanist, fiercely independent and travelling alone as she collects botanical specimens. She's also trying to out-run a broken heart after her lover was forced to marry. Ingrid puts her own troubles aside on meeting Ellyn, a young woman living in stark isolation, and driven close to madness by the death of her baby daughter. Ellyn's husband is away indefinitely and she's had no word from him, while the small community has turned its back on her because of her 'unseemly' grieving. When the two women meet, they forge a bond that grows ever deeper. But can their intimacy find acceptance in their conventional world? A Curious Intimacy is a sensual and surprising novel about love and the sacrifices we make in the name of it.”

http://www.penguin.com.au/

A Curious Intimacy
Jessica white
Paperback
Viking
8 January 2007
ISBN: 9780670029716

A Curious Intimacy
Jessica White
Paperback
Penguin
2 June 2008
ISBN: 9780143007609