image of person or book cover 3349489001151796457.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 For a Girl : A True Story of Secrets, Motherhood and Hope
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Memories and secrets buried for over twenty years surfaced after Mary-Rose MacColl gave birth to a much longed-for baby.

'I am by nature a private person. Secrets are different from privacy. They are things you are forced to keep to yourself, by family, friends, by your own shame. Secrets like these come to the surface one day and demand an airing.

'Emerging from an unconventional, boisterously happy childhood, Mary-Rose MacColl was a rebellious teenager. And when, at the age of fifteen, her high-school teacher and her husband started inviting Mary-Rose to spend time with them, her parents were pleased that she now had the guidance she needed to take her safely into young adulthood.

'It wasn't too long, though, before the teacher and her husband changed the nature of the relationship with overwhelming consequences for Mary-Rose. Consequences that kept her silent and ashamed through much of her adult life. Many years later, safe within a loving relationship, all of the long-hidden secrets and betrayals crashed down upon her and she came close to losing everything.

'In this poignant and brave true story, Mary-Rose brings these secrets to the surface and, in doing so, is finally able to watch them float away.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2017 .
      image of person or book cover 3349489001151796457.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 280p.
      Note/s:
      • Published May 2017
      ISBN: 9781760295233

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Mary-Rose MacColl, For a Girl LS , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22-28 April 2017;
'In her memoir For a Girl, Mary-Rose MacColl quotes the American poet Louise Bogan. “No woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her art, a portion of its lost heart.” It’s apt, because throughout her harrowing story, MacColl is conscious of the “why’” of this book. Why is she telling complete strangers these most intimate and awful things? “I am by nature a private person,” she says, and later, “I am struggling here for I want most of all to be truthful.” She is hesitant to write about some things, she admits. “How can I hope to make someone else understand?”' (Introduction)
Mary-Rose MacColl, For a Girl LS , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22-28 April 2017;
'In her memoir For a Girl, Mary-Rose MacColl quotes the American poet Louise Bogan. “No woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her art, a portion of its lost heart.” It’s apt, because throughout her harrowing story, MacColl is conscious of the “why’” of this book. Why is she telling complete strangers these most intimate and awful things? “I am by nature a private person,” she says, and later, “I am struggling here for I want most of all to be truthful.” She is hesitant to write about some things, she admits. “How can I hope to make someone else understand?”' (Introduction)
Last amended 17 Sep 2020 11:35:35
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