Cirrus@Austlit

'An Original Talent is complete in itself. But it is also the third novel in the trilogy about high-spirited Jerusha Braddon and her gallant struggle to survive as an independent woman painter in the 1870s Melbourne. It follows Fishing for Strawberries and Jerusha Braddon, Painter.

'The art dealer Peter Larchy has launched her first exhibition and she is elated at having dared to thrust in the public's eye a painting of a nude prostitute and a portrait of her murdered friend Christine. But her originality scandalises bringing social rejection, poverty and estrangement from her fiancé John. In love with Peter Larchy, she yet fears that marriage to him could destroy her independence as a painter. She asks herself if married women painted and admits despairingly, 'I knew none that did.'

'To avoid starving, she sketches passers-by in Bourke Street for two shillings. Torn between her timidities and her daring, she remains undaunted in her passion to create paintings that are groundbreaking and unique.

'And finally she courageously makes a decision about marriage.' (From the publisher's website.)