Janis Spehr Janis Spehr i(A12777 works by)
Born: Established: Western District, Victoria, ;
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Vermin Janis Spehr , 2023 single work short story
— Appears in: The Scarlet Stiletto : 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice 2023;
1 y separately published work icon Claude and Marcel Janis Spehr , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2022 23741755 2022 single work novel war literature

'Danger. Imprisonment. Death. This is the fate in store for anyone who dares defy the German authorities during their occupation on the island of Jersey during World War II. Undeterred, Lucy Schwob ('Claude') and Suzanne Malherbe ('Marcel') embark upon a campaign of rebellion. By day, the two women present to the world as quiet, cat-loving sisters; in reality they are lovers and saboteurs, using surrealist-inspired artworks to undermine and destabilise a tyrannous regime's power in an environment where no one is to be trusted. Captured in 1944 and faced with the threat of execution or deportation to a concentration camp, Lucy and Suzanne must draw on all their reserves of courage, imagination and tenacity, as well as their deep love, to survive separation, starvation and their own faltering will to live. Bowed but never broken completely, they greet freedom with ambivalence, knowing the price which has been paid for it by so many. Set against a backdrop of surveillance and fear, told in gleaming evocative prose which brings the ever-changing oceanic landscape to life, Claude & Marcel is a story of bittersweet triumph by twinned spirits, the shadow to her light, the electron which dances with her proton, the one seed of a dicotyledon which nestles next to the other.' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon The Light at the Edge of the Sky Janis Spehr , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2021 21048274 2021 single work novel war literature 'Nineteen-forty: the German army continues its rampage across Europe. Paris, the City of Light, occupied by a foreign power, its citizens starved of both food and freedom, has become a place where survival is fraught, surveillance constant and friendships and allegiances fracture and shift. Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia Beach, friends, booksellers and former lovers wait anxiously for news of Gisèle Freund, photographer and Jewish refugee from fascism who is hiding out in southern France. When a member from Gisèle 's political past reappears in Paris, pressure is put on this already fragile triangular relationship. Gisèle flees from a Europe decimated by war to South America, where she finds safety from the forces of bigotry and oppression. However, she cannot escape her own history of guilt and loss. Only a chance encounter in Buenos Aires enables her to begin to lay her ghosts to rest and begin a new phase of life. Told in haunting, elegiac prose, Janis Spehr's short, exquisite novel is about jealousy, betrayal and exile. It is also a thrilling story of courage and survival as well as testimony to the enduring power of art and a tribute to all those who seek to bear witness to their time.' (Publication summary)
 
1 y separately published work icon Flowers for the Protestants Janis Spehr , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2019 15964197 2019 selected work short story

'‘I’ll tell you a story that’ll knock ya socks off,’ says an old woman in Janis Spehr’s ‘Little Sheilas’, one of the thirteen compelling stories which make up her fourth collection, Flowers for the Protestants. Many of the characters in these stories face a crisis or dilemma: a woman is torn by conflict about her partner’s pregnancy; a man kidnaps his daughter during an access visit; a couple mourn their dead son in numbing separateness; men are locked into denial about their sexuality. Some are strengthened by these challenges; others are defeated by them but all seek love, a sense of belonging and a place in the world. Most of the stories are located in a domesticated rural landscape which nevertheless retains a haunting, crooked beauty while some occur in an urban environment which enables women to forge new identities through work and love. The final story in the collection, ‘Portraits from the First Republic’, takes place in Europe between the world wars and signals a new direction in Janis Spehr’s writing. Melancholy and bleak; yearning and lyrical, shot through with flashes of sardonic wit, Flowers for the Protestants is short fiction writing at its finest.'    (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Ladies, a Plate Please Janis Spehr , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2017 11974272 2017 single work novel

'Ladies, a plate please charts the life of Elizabeth Macguire, from childhood to middle age, in her quest for identity and selfhood. Activist, lover, sister, friend, Elizabeth follows her own rebellious star, beginning in rural sixties Australia in a family fractured by a child’s death and the damaging silence of unexpressed grief. Her journey takes her through youthful romances to a complex and volatile relationship with Sarah, who seeks to reconcile her own family history of loss in a way which inevitably conflicts with Elizabeth’s desire for autonomy. Wry, evocative and humorous, Ladies, a plate please is about struggle, change and the secrets people keep, from themselves and each other. '  (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Sea Pictures Janis Spehr , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2016 9528794 2016 single work novella

'Rebellious teenager Phillip is sent to live with Kate, who raised him as a child when his mother Venice was in thrall to heroin. Set in coastal Victoria and then in Paris, Sea Pictures charts Phillip’s coming of age as well as Kate’s life in her local community and her relationship with the glamorous and volatile Venice.' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Leaving Ray Janis Spehr , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2014 7906381 2014 selected work short story

'Janis Spehr is a traveller and dreamer. Landscape, history and the visual arts are important starting points for her writing and her short fiction has been widely published. She is currently writing a collection of stories, The light at the edge of the sky, based on the life of the German photographer Gisele Freund.' (Publication summary)

1 In Jancourt i "Raven against an icy sky", Janis Spehr , 2014 single work poetry
— Appears in: Verandah , no. 29 2014; (p. 79)
1 Seven Crayfish at Christmas Janis Spehr , 2013 single work short story
— Appears in: Verandah , no. 28 2013; (p. 68-71)
1 Der Schoner Geist Janis Spehr , 2013 single work short story
— Appears in: Verandah , no. 28 2013; (p. 19-21)
1 Leaving Ray Janis Spehr , 2010 single work short story
— Appears in: Nth Degree : New Australian Writing 2010; (p. 159-170)
1 The Red Jumper Janis Spehr , 2006 single work short story
— Appears in: Four W , no. 17 2006; (p. 62-68)
1 Love Letters in the Sand Janis Spehr , 2005 single work short story
— Appears in: Space : New Writing , no. 2 2005; (p. 121-127)
1 Learning the Alphabet Janis Spehr , 2002 single work short story
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 55-57)
1 Chris Janis Spehr , 2002 single work short story
— Appears in: Coppertales : A Journal of Rural Arts , no. 8 2002; (p. 63-67)
1 Dead Woman in the Water Janis Spehr , 2001 single work short story crime
— Appears in: Crime Factory , no. 1 2001; (p. 33-37) Scarlet Stiletto : The First Cut : Award-Winning Thrillers from Sisters in Crime Australia 2007; (p. 331-346) The Scarlet Stiletto : 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice 2023;
1 Fedora Walks: Merilee Moss: Spinifex Janis Spehr , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Crime Factory , no. 2 2001; (p. 51)

— Review of Fedora Walks Merrilee Moss , 2001 single work novel
1 The Meeting Janis Spehr , 1999 single work short story
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 44 no. 3 1999; (p. 109-111)
1 The Snake-Charmer Janis Spehr , 1999 single work short story
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 44 no. 3 1999; (p. 5-9)
1 Little Sheilas Janis Spehr , 1998 single work short story
— Appears in: Australian Short Stories , no. 62 1998; (p. 9-16)
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