About this Event
Kyra Geddes reveals the untold story of the female characters in Henry Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ in her stunning debut novel The Story Thief. Combining fact and fiction, this stirring family saga is set against the shifting landscapes and pivotal moments in Australian history.
The Story Thief follows Lillian, who was born in 1892. When she reads Henry Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ at school, she quickly becomes convinced that it is based on her own family’s story and is determined to prove it. We follow Lillian over the course of her life across monumental points in Australia’s history — including women’s suffrage, the two world wars and the birth of nuclear warfare — as she must decide what is more important: holding onto the past or embracing the future.
Kyra shines a light on some of the untold female stories of 19th and 20th-century Australia. As the journalist Steve Meacham highlighted in 2022, ‘little attention has been paid to the women in Lawson’s life who helped shape his illustrious but tragic career’. Through her obsession with Henry Lawson, Lillian discovers his mother Louisa, and the incredible impact that she had on the Australian suffrage movement, as well as her own literary prowess.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Beechworth Library, 101 Ford St, Beechworth, Australia
AUD 0.00
