image of person or book cover 7106746456342330167.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon The Invaluable Mystery single work   novel  
  • Author:agent Lesbia Harford http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/harford-lesbia
Issue Details: First known date: 1987... 1987 The Invaluable Mystery
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

It's 1915 and the world is at war - a fact of no great significance to the quiet world of Sally Putman with its chooks to be fed, ice-creams to be sold to ferry passengers bound for the beach at Mosman, its gramophone parties and next door neighbours. But being German in an Australia gripped by prejudice is a fact that must be dealt with.

Considered too radical perhaps for publication in its own time, The Invaluable Mystery has only now, more than sixty years after its writing, been unearthed in the National Archive.

(Source: back cover, 1987 edition)

Notes

  • Harford's only novel, The Invaluable Mystery was written between 1921-1924.
  • Epigraph: 'This place is made by God; an invaluable mystery , it is without reproof.'

Contents

* Contents derived from the Fitzroy, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,:McPhee Gribble ,Penguin , 1987 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introduction, Richard Nile , Robert Darby , single work criticism (p. 5-17)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Fitzroy, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: McPhee Gribble ; Penguin , 1987 .
      image of person or book cover 7106746456342330167.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 190p.
      Note/s:
      • Foreword by Helen Garner.
      • '...so sturdily true in its physical world...' Helen Garner (appears on cover)
      ISBN: 0140105247

Works about this Work

Sleeping With the Enemy : Patriot Games in Fictions by Lesbia Harford, Gwen Kelly, and Joan Dugdale Donna Coates , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Journal of Commonwealth Literature , vol. 37 no. 2 2002; (p. 157-173)
Author examines three novels by women authors dealing with the experiences of women and children 'who were left to cope on their own in a hostile environment when their husbads were interned.' She finds that these novels 'challenge the assumptions about both war and gender that have informed the aethetics of the prevailing canon of Great War literature in Australia.' (pp.157-158)
Lesbia Harford Gary Catalano , 1998 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Quadrant , December vol. 42 no. 12 1998; (p. 53-56)
Lesbia Harford's Homefront Warrior and Women's World War I Writing Donna Coates , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 17 no. 1 1995; (p. 19-28)
Stubborn Singers of Their Full Song : Mary Gilmore and Lesbia Harford Jennifer Strauss , 1993 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Time to Write : Australian Women Writers 1890-1930 1993; (p. 108-138)
Untitled Andrew Gurr , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Studies , December no. 4 1990; (p. 127-129)

— Review of Captivity Captive Rodney Hall , 1988 single work novel ; The Rose Fancier Olga Masters , 1988 selected work short story ; The Invaluable Mystery Lesbia Harford , 1987 single work novel
A Significant Find Deborah Jordan , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The CRNLE Reviews Journal , no. 2 1987-1988; (p. 45-47)

— Review of The Invaluable Mystery Lesbia Harford , 1987 single work novel
Penguins New and Revisited Reba Gostand , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , June vol. 7 no. 2 1988; (p. 57-58)

— Review of The Well Dressed Explorer Thea Astley , 1962 single work novel ; Landscape with Landscape Gerald Murnane , 1985 selected work short story ; That Eye, the Sky Tim Winton , 1986 single work novel ; Minimum of Two Tim Winton , 1987 selected work short story ; Testostero David Foster , 1987 single work novel ; The Invaluable Mystery Lesbia Harford , 1987 single work novel ; Holden's Performance Murray Bail , 1987 single work novel
Notes on Fiction Nicolette Stasko , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Phoenix Review , Summer 1987/8 no. 2 1987; (p. 117-120)

— Review of The Last Man's Head : Chip-Chop, Chip-Chop, The Last Man's Head Off Jessica Anderson , 1970 single work novel ; Self Possession Marion Halligan , 1987 single work novel ; The Invaluable Mystery Lesbia Harford , 1987 single work novel ; Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories Jessica Anderson , 1987 selected work short story autobiography
Untitled Andrew Gurr , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Studies , December no. 4 1990; (p. 127-129)

— Review of Captivity Captive Rodney Hall , 1988 single work novel ; The Rose Fancier Olga Masters , 1988 selected work short story ; The Invaluable Mystery Lesbia Harford , 1987 single work novel
Of Charm and Politics : Two Novels Reclaimed Helen Thomson , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 95 1987; (p. 15-16)

— Review of The Three Miss Kings Ada Cambridge , 1883 single work novel ; The Invaluable Mystery Lesbia Harford , 1987 single work novel
Sleeping With the Enemy : Patriot Games in Fictions by Lesbia Harford, Gwen Kelly, and Joan Dugdale Donna Coates , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Journal of Commonwealth Literature , vol. 37 no. 2 2002; (p. 157-173)
Author examines three novels by women authors dealing with the experiences of women and children 'who were left to cope on their own in a hostile environment when their husbads were interned.' She finds that these novels 'challenge the assumptions about both war and gender that have informed the aethetics of the prevailing canon of Great War literature in Australia.' (pp.157-158)
Introduction Richard Nile , Robert Darby , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Invaluable Mystery 1987; (p. 5-17)
Stubborn Singers of Their Full Song : Mary Gilmore and Lesbia Harford Jennifer Strauss , 1993 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Time to Write : Australian Women Writers 1890-1930 1993; (p. 108-138)
Lesbia Harford's Homefront Warrior and Women's World War I Writing Donna Coates , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 17 no. 1 1995; (p. 19-28)
One Out of the Box David Latta , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Book Magazine , August-September vol. 1 no. 2 1987; (p. 10-40)
Last amended 9 Apr 2015 09:56:55
X