'Torpid beneath an inevitable sun, its dray-wide streets a study in shadow and glare, the country town of Deane — primary setting of Tony Birch’s new novel The White Girl, his fourth in a dozen years — is vividly rendered for a place that does not really exist. This is probably because some version of it has sprung up in so many parts of this country that only a generic instance is big enough to contain them all.'(Introduction)
'In 1938, Norah Heysen, the daughter of celebrated landscape painter Hans Heysen, won the Archibald Prize with a portrait of socialite Madame Elink Schuurman. A simple cameo will demonstrate what she was up against.'(Introduction)
