'The works of the Australian novelist Elizabeth Harrower have, until now, received little critical attention. That is partly an effect of their being out of sight for a long time. As Harrower told the New Yorker three years ago: "I stopped writing fiction in 1971 or 1972 - a strange decision". Five decades after this "strange decision", however, the Melbourne publishing house Text reissued Harrower's four novels, alongside the previously unpublished In Certain Circles and her stories - to which this collection of essays, edited by Elizabeth McMahon and Brigitta Olubas, serves as a fitting critical companion.' (Introduction)
