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y separately published work icon The Grisly Wife single work   novel   historical fiction  
Is part of A Dream More Luminous Than Love : The Yandilli Trilogy Rodney Hall , 1994 selected work novel
  • Author:agent Rodney Hall http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/hall-rodney
Issue Details: First known date: 1993... 1993 The Grisly Wife
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A timely, haunting drama of utopian dreams confronted with baleful reality, Hall's new novel captures the bizarre appeal of religious cults. Catherine Byrne marries self-proclaimed prophet Muley Moloch and leaves 19th-century England with him and his eight female disciples to search for paradise on earth in the wilds of Australia. But life as a prophet's wife is not all that Catherine had expected; her first-person narration recounts a shipwreck, illness, death and outbursts of jealousy among the disciples. Muley's visionary charisma leads the group ever farther from civilization but does not draw them together, nor do the shared hardships of settling the wilderness, building two houses (one for Muley, one for the nine women, called the Household of Hidden Stars) and coping with apparitions that stare at them from the edges of the forests. After Muley disappears on a mysterious voyage, Catherine begins to see the apparitions more clearly; she alternates between enchantment and fear, wondering what is real and what is imagined. When the police arrive to investigate a brutal murder, Catherine vents her anger and frustration in a high-pitched, almost inchoate account of deception, betrayal, holy and unholy mysteries (including purported virgin births), and, finally, redemption.'

Source: Publishers Weekly https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-16704-2

Notes

  • Book two of A Dream More Luminous Than Love : The Yandilli Trilogy

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Chippendale, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Macmillan , 1993 .
      image of person or book cover 2794096581346255061.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 261p.
      Description: port.
      ISBN: 0732907764
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Faber ,
      1993 .
      image of person or book cover 6177643960846551330.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 261p.
      ISBN: 0571169554
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Farrar Straus and Giroux ,
      1993 .
      image of person or book cover 1193210305273141595.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 261p.
      Note/s:
      • Author's note: I acknowledge with gratitude the help so generously given me by Iain McCalman and Suzanne Rickard.
      ISBN: 0374167044
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon A Dream More Luminous Than Love : The Yandilli Trilogy The Yandilli Trilogy Rodney Hall , Sydney : Picador , 1994 Z475928 1994 selected work novel historical fiction Sydney : Picador , 1994 pg. 215-475
Alternative title: Das schaurige Weib
Language: German
    • Frankfurt am Main,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      S. Fischer Verlag ,
      1995 .
      image of person or book cover 6959177466801263263.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 299p.
      ISBN: 3100294076, 9783100294074

Works about this Work

Framing History: Photography in Rodney Hall's 'Yandilli Trilogy' Sigrun Meinig , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 29-33)
An Un-Becoming Paradise: The Yandilli Trilogy Greg Ratcliffe , 1996 single work criticism
— Appears in: Current Tensions : Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference : 6 - 11 July 1996 1996; (p. 164-171)
Rall in Conversation with Suzanne Braun-Bau Braun-Bau Susanne (interviewer), 1996 single work interview
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 41 no. 3 1996; (p. 98-109)
Untitled Paul Sharrad , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: World Literature Today , Spring vol. 68 no. 2 1994; (p. 424)

— Review of The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
Fresh Vision of Colonial Past Katharine England , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser Magazine , 15 January 1994; (p. 12)

— Review of The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
Novelists Look at the Exuberant and the Uncanny Lisa Altomari , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 8 no. 1 1994; (p. 74-75)

— Review of A Big Life Susan Johnson , 1993 single work novel ; The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
A Prophet in a Place So Bare Vanessa Smith , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 24 September no. 4721 1993; (p. 21)

— Review of The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
An End to Miracles Nigel Krauth , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 156 1993; (p. 5-6)

— Review of The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
An Invitation to Our History Peter Pierce , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 16 November vol. 115 no. 5896 1993; (p. 105)

— Review of The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
Faith and Delusion Helen Daniel , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 2 October 1993; (p. 8)

— Review of The Grisly Wife Rodney Hall , 1993 single work novel
Framing History: Photography in Rodney Hall's 'Yandilli Trilogy' Sigrun Meinig , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 29-33)
Black in the West Helen Daniel , 1993 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 27 November 1993; (p. 9)
An Un-Becoming Paradise: The Yandilli Trilogy Greg Ratcliffe , 1996 single work criticism
— Appears in: Current Tensions : Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference : 6 - 11 July 1996 1996; (p. 164-171)
"All Those Layered and Clotted Images": An Interview with Rodney Hall Felicity Plunkett (interviewer), 1994 single work interview
— Appears in: Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada , June no. 11 1994; (p. 56-67)
Rall in Conversation with Suzanne Braun-Bau Braun-Bau Susanne (interviewer), 1996 single work interview
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 41 no. 3 1996; (p. 98-109)
Last amended 5 Sep 2022 13:33:00
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