image of person or book cover 4258246444360235481.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon Inheritance single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 Inheritance
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A profoundly moving novel about two women in very different worlds, whose lives are shaped by a single fatal gene.

'In 2016, while in the early stages of IVF, Rose is shaken by the discovery that she carries a dangerous mutation of the BrCa1 gene. She begins to ask questions about her family history, and particularly her grandmother Nellie, whose early death left a hole in their family that was never quite filled. As the certainties in Rose’s life start to crumble around her, she becomes fixated on the shadowy figure of Nellie. Who really was this woman, and could her secrets reveal the way forward for the granddaughter who may share her fatal gene?

'Inheritance tells the stories of two similar women in very different worlds, exploring how our circumstances – and the time and society we live in – can collide with what we’ve inherited to shape our lives. It’s a breathtaking and profoundly moving exploration of love, death and the dignified beauty of a quiet life.'  (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Editor's note: In 2019, writer and General Practitioner Dr Kath O’Connor died from ovarian cancer while working on the final draft of Inheritance. Her partner and family, with Kath’s writing mentor, Inga Simpson, completed the manuscript so that Kath’s dream of publication could be realised and this beautiful novel could be shared. Royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to WomenCan: Funding Gynaecological Cancer Research.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • South Melbourne, South Melbourne - Port Melbourne area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Affirm Press , 2023 .
      image of person or book cover 4258246444360235481.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 320p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 31 January 2023
      ISBN: 9781922848178

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.
  • Braille.

Works about this Work

Guiding Light to the End Inga Simpson , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11-12 February 2023; (p. 18)

'Writer and GP Kath O’Connor died from ovarian cancer while working on the final draft of her novel, Inheritance. Fellow writer and friend Inga Simpson helped complete the manuscript'

Inga Simpson Helps Bring Kath O'Connor's Novel Inheritance to Print, After the Author Died from Ovarian Cancer Nicola Heath , 2023 single work
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , March 2023;
Kath O'Connor Was Writing a Novel about Her Grandmother’s Ovarian Cancer When She Was Diagnosed, Too. She Died before It Was Published Jen Webb , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 2 February 2023;

— Review of Inheritance Kathryn O’Connor , 2023 single work novel

'The concept of death has preoccupied people for probably as long as people have existed. Nonetheless, we are are practised at avoiding, forgetting or suppressing the inevitability of our own death. We write about death in philosophy and medicine and sociology, and in fiction too. But typically, these writings locate death “out there”, as an event or a case.' (Introduction)

Kath O'Connor Was Writing a Novel about Her Grandmother’s Ovarian Cancer When She Was Diagnosed, Too. She Died before It Was Published Jen Webb , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 2 February 2023;

— Review of Inheritance Kathryn O’Connor , 2023 single work novel

'The concept of death has preoccupied people for probably as long as people have existed. Nonetheless, we are are practised at avoiding, forgetting or suppressing the inevitability of our own death. We write about death in philosophy and medicine and sociology, and in fiction too. But typically, these writings locate death “out there”, as an event or a case.' (Introduction)

Inga Simpson Helps Bring Kath O'Connor's Novel Inheritance to Print, After the Author Died from Ovarian Cancer Nicola Heath , 2023 single work
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , March 2023;
Guiding Light to the End Inga Simpson , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11-12 February 2023; (p. 18)

'Writer and GP Kath O’Connor died from ovarian cancer while working on the final draft of her novel, Inheritance. Fellow writer and friend Inga Simpson helped complete the manuscript'

Last amended 6 Apr 2023 12:29:34
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