image of person or book cover 7034262886628484250.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon A Brief Affair single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2022... 2022 A Brief Affair
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'From the bustling streets of China, to the ominous Cell 16 in an old asylum building, to the familiar sounds and sight of galahs flying over a Victorian farm, A Brief Affair is a tender love story. On the face of it, Dr Frances Egan is a woman who has it all-a loving family and a fine career until a brief, perfect affair reveals to her an imaginative dimension to her life that is wholly her own. Fran finds the courage and the inspiration to risk everything and change her direction at the age of forty-two. This newfound understanding of herself is fortified by the discovery of a long-forgotten diary from the asylum and the story it reveals. Written with humour, sensitivity and the wisdom for which Miller's work is famous, this exquisitely compassionate novel explores the interior life and the dangerous navigation of love in all its forms.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: 

    for Stephanie

    &

    for my mother and her old people, the Egans of Ballyragget

  •  Selected as one of the Guardian Australia best Australian books of 2022

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 , 2022 .
      image of person or book cover 7034262886628484250.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 288p.
      Reprinted: 28 Nov 2023
      Note/s:
      • Published 1st November 2022
      ISBN: 9781761066573

Works about this Work

[Review] A Brief Affair Tessa Chudy , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 160 2023;

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel
A Time of Stone : Alex Miller’s Thirteenth Novel Penny Russell , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 32)

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel
'Frances Egan, ‘a smart-looking woman of forty-two’, seems to lead a charmed life.  A scholar of national distinction in the field of management, she was recently shoehorned into the role of head of school by a vice-chancellor who needed a woman ‘for the appearance of the thing’. Driven by ambition (she wants to be a professor), she accepted. She and her husband, Tom, a cabinetmaker committed to traditional methods of woodcraft, live with their two children, Margie and ‘little Tommy’, on a farm near Castlemaine they bought last year, fulfilling a lifelong dream.' 

(Introduction)

Book Review : A Brief Affair, Alex Miller Erich Mayer , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , November 2022;

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel

'A sympathetic account of a highly intelligent woman surviving a mid-life crisis.'

A Brief Affair with Lasting Consequences Stephen Romei , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 November 2022; (p. 16)

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel
A Brief Affair by Alex Miller Review – a Moving Study of Female Passion Joseph Cummins , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 November 2022;

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel

'The Miles Franklin-winning author returns to fiction with a deftly woven domestic drama that explores one woman’s state of mind in midlife'

A Brief Affair by Alex Miller Review – a Moving Study of Female Passion Joseph Cummins , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 November 2022;

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel

'The Miles Franklin-winning author returns to fiction with a deftly woven domestic drama that explores one woman’s state of mind in midlife'

A Brief Affair with Lasting Consequences Stephen Romei , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 November 2022; (p. 16)

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel
A Time of Stone : Alex Miller’s Thirteenth Novel Penny Russell , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 32)

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel
'Frances Egan, ‘a smart-looking woman of forty-two’, seems to lead a charmed life.  A scholar of national distinction in the field of management, she was recently shoehorned into the role of head of school by a vice-chancellor who needed a woman ‘for the appearance of the thing’. Driven by ambition (she wants to be a professor), she accepted. She and her husband, Tom, a cabinetmaker committed to traditional methods of woodcraft, live with their two children, Margie and ‘little Tommy’, on a farm near Castlemaine they bought last year, fulfilling a lifelong dream.' 

(Introduction)

[Review] A Brief Affair Tessa Chudy , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 160 2023;

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel
Book Review : A Brief Affair, Alex Miller Erich Mayer , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , November 2022;

— Review of A Brief Affair Alex Miller , 2022 single work novel

'A sympathetic account of a highly intelligent woman surviving a mid-life crisis.'

Last amended 8 Sep 2023 13:28:49
X