In a memoir that pierces and delights us, Jill Ker Conway tells the story of her astonishing journey into adulthood—a journey that would ultimately span immense distances and encompass worlds, ideas, and ways of life that seem a century apart.
She was seven before she ever saw another girl child. At eight, still too small to mount her horse unaided, she was galloping miles, alone, across Coorain, her parents' thirty thousand windswept, drought-haunted acres in the Australian outback, doing a "man's job" of helping herd the sheep because World War II had taken away the able-bodied men. She loved (and makes us see and feel) the vast unpeopled landscape, beautiful and hostile, whose uncertain weathers tormented the sheep ranchers with conflicting promises of riches and inescapable disaster. She adored (and makes us know) her large-visioned father and her strong, radiant mother, who had gone willingly with him into a pioneering life of loneliness and bone-breaking toil, who seemed miraculously to succeed in creating a warmly sheltering home in the harsh outback, and who, upon her husband's sudden death when Jill was ten, began to slide—bereft of the partnership of work and love that had so utterly fulfilled her—into depression and dependency.
We see Jill, staggered by the loss of her father, catapulted to what seemed another planet—the suburban Sydney of the 1950s and its crowded, noisy, cliquish school life. Then the heady excitement of the University, but with it a yet more demanding course of lessons—Jill embracing new ideas, new possibilities, while at the same time trying to be mother to her mother and resenting it, escaping into drink, pulling herself back, striking a balance. We see her slowly gaining strength, coming into her own emotionally and intellectually and beginning the joyous love affair that gave wings to her newfound self.
Worlds away from Coorain, in America, Jill Conway became a historian and the first woman president of Smith College. Her story of Coorain and the road from Coorain startles by its passion and evocative power, by its understanding of the ways in which a total, deep-rooted commitment to place—or to a dream—can at once liberate and imprison. It is a story of childhood as both Eden and anguish, and of growing up as a journey toward the difficult life of the free.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"Sheer delight." --Washington Post
"A small masterpiece of scene, memory and very stylish English. I've been several times to Australia; this book was the most rewarding journey of all." --John Kenneth Galbraith
Jill Ker Conway is a noted historian, specializing in the experience of women in America, and was the first woman president of Smith College.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00073242397
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Gulf Coast Books, Memphis, TN, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Fair. Seller Inventory # 0679724362-4-20123815
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Acceptable. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00063728533
Quantity: 4 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00048004229
Quantity: Over 20 available
Seller: Orion Tech, Kingwood, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Fair. Seller Inventory # 0679724362-4-20107104
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Gulf Coast Books, Memphis, TN, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 0679724362-3-18995510
Quantity: 5 available
Seller: Your Online Bookstore, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 0679724362-3-18845694
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Jenson Books Inc, Logan, UT, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: Good. This item shows signs of wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact , but may have aesthetic issues such as small tears, bends, scratches, and scuffs. Spine may also show signs of wear. Pages may include some notes and highlighting. May include "From the library of" labels. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # 4BQ42A00077T_ns
Quantity: 4 available
Seller: Jenson Books Inc, Logan, UT, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: VeryGood. A well-cared-for item that has seen limited use but remains in great condition. The item is complete, unmarked, and undamaged, but may show some limited signs of wear. Item works perfectly. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine is undamaged. Seller Inventory # 4BQ0010008CJ
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ZBK Books, Carlstadt, NJ, U.S.A.
Condition: good. Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Fast Shipping. Seller Inventory # ZBM.1G0TI
Quantity: 1 available