Tea with Sister Paula single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1985... 1985 Tea with Sister Paula
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Dan is a schoolteacher in the small town of Cobargo. He and his wife, Emily, have one daughter who he dislikes: Dorothy, who has Down syndrome. He partially blames Emily for bearing the child and for liking her. He storms home from school early one day, incensed by a boy's rude comment about Dorothy.

Dorothy leaves the house to Emily's dismay. Without Emily's knowledge, she visits Sister Paula at the convent, who is of similar age to Dorothy. Sister Paula guards her from the sight of others, and treats Dorothy to 'afternoon tea' beans through the garden fence with leaves for plates and acorns for cups.

Back home for tea with her parents, Dorothy copies Sister Paula, learning to cover her mouth while eating. Emily considers this a sign of improvement and looks to Dan, but Dan leaves without seeing.

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia:

    Type of disability Down syndrome.
    Type of character Primary.
    Point of view Third person.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon A Long Time Dying Olga Masters , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1985 Z342123 1985 selected work short story St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1985 pg. 64-75
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon This Australia vol. 4 no. 4 Spring 1985 Z624878 1985 periodical issue 1985 pg. 55-58
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Collected Stories Olga Masters , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1996 Z228113 1996 collected work short story

    'In the brief four years between the publication of her first volume of short stories and her death in 1986, Olga Masters was celebrated as one of Australia's most powerful and original writers. She won a National Book Council award and was shortlisted for another, and was published in the United States, France and Italy. She wrote two novels and three collections of stories, the third published posthumously. Gathered now in one volume are all the stories from The Home Girls and A Long Time Dying and those she had completed for The Rose Fancier, tough, honest stories that portray rural and suburban life with compassion and unsparing observation. ' (Publication summary)

    St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1996
    pg. 241-250
Last amended 27 Apr 2018 13:59:14
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