Cirrus@Austlit

'The South African-born Australian author of In the Garden of the Fugitives reflects on white privilege, shame and the complexities of art.'

'Dorothy’s front door wouldn’t open. So they took it off its hinges.

'[We] were confronted immediately by a wall of garbage, decades upon decades of accumulated detritus,” says Sarah Krasnostein, author of The Trauma Cleaner. Dorothy’s impenetrable house was in a wealthy suburb, not far from a cafe that made raw almond milk. Krasnostein had arrived there with Sandra Pankhurst, the 63-year-old owner and operator of Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services.' (Introduction)

'Sandra Pankhurst is no ordinary cleaner. The subject of Sarah Krasnostein’s biography, The Trauma Cleaner, this Melbourne businesswoman is one of the most extraordinary characters you will ever find in a work of non-fiction. Pankhurst’s company, Specialised Trauma Cleaners, deals with crime scenes, “unattended deaths” and hoarders’ houses. Staff in white plastic suits rip up sewage-drenched carpet, wipe bloodstains from walls, and dispose of decades of rubbish.' (Introduction)

'The prolific Australian author talks about her new novel, Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies, and writing women into history.'