Philip Lindsay, the son of
Norman Lindsay (q.v.) and brother of
Jack Lindsay (q.v.), was a prolific writer of historical fiction. After trying a career in journalism, he left Australia for England in 1929. As a writer for film and a specialist on medieval England, he wrote over forty historical novels and numerous works of non-fiction, mainly historical biographies. His autobiography,
I'd Live the Same Life Over (1941), includes reminiscences of other family members and of several Australian writers. According to R. D. Fitzgerald, Lindsay completed but never published a novel containing much autobiographical materialjust before he left for England. Fitzgerald believed this to be Lindsay's first completed novel (
'Philip Lindsay', Meanjin 17.2 (1958): 183-186). Uncertainty exists about this novel: Fitzgerald believes it was titled either 'Pins and Needles' or 'Snakes and Ladders', however, it may in fact be
'The Mangle', a manuscript novel held at Monash University, or
'Journey's End', another unpublished novel with a contemporary setting, held at the Mitchell Library. Lindsay's daughter Cressida Lindsay also became a novelist.
