'One day, Alice said, ‘Eric Lane wants to take me to—’
'For the first time, her mother attended, standing still.
'Eric was brought to the house, and Eric and Alice were married before there was time to say ‘knife’. How did it happen? She tried to trace it back. She was watching her mother performing for Eric, and then (she always paused here in her mind), somehow, she woke up married and in another house.
'Internationally acclaimed for her five brilliant novels, Elizabeth Harrower is also the author of a small body of short fiction. A Few Days in the Country brings together for the first time her stories published in Australian journals in the 1960s and 1970s, along with those from her archives—including ‘Alice’, published for the first time earlier this year in the New Yorker.
'Essential reading for Harrower fans, these finely turned pieces show a broader range than the novels, ranging from caustic satires to gentler explorations of friendship.' (Publication summary)
'Elizabeth Harrower’s collection of short stories, A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories is shortlisted for the 2016 Stella Prize. We spoke to Elizabeth about literary villains, reasons for writing and her trusty Olympia typewriter.'(Introduction)
'Elizabeth Harrower’s collection of short stories, A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories is shortlisted for the 2016 Stella Prize. We spoke to Elizabeth about literary villains, reasons for writing and her trusty Olympia typewriter.'(Introduction)
Beyond the Barren Landscape
West Sussex
:
University of Chichester
,
2016
17162187
2009
single work
essay
'Longlisted in the 2016 Competition, Nicole Mansour appreciates the murkier side of Australia in Elizabeth Harrower’s A Few Days in the Country: ‘Few Australian writers, in my opinion, traverse these dim corners of ambiguity, or unearth this more uncommon caliginosity from far beneath its exterior, in either their characters or their writing – Murray Bail and Gerard Murnane are notable exceptions. Elizabeth Harrower is another…’
Source: Publisher's blurb.
