A cry from the dark
By: Robert Barnard.
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2003
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 260
Subjects: Autobiography -- Authorship -- Fiction; Reminiscing in old age -- Fiction; Women authors -- Fiction; Older women -- Fiction; Great Britain -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Description: Bettina Whitelaw is a grand dame of the English literary scene. Approaching eighty, with a beautiful flat in Holland Park and a comfortable income, her life is not dissimilar to that of her wealthy, elegant neighbours. But her background most certainly is. Brought up in Bundaroo, a small town in the Australian outback, Bettina's childhood was dominated by the relentlessly blazing sun, by the long daily walk to school, and by the simmering animosities of small town life. Aged sixteen, Bettina managed to escape from Bundaroo and begin her literary career in Europe. Sixty years later, she embarks upon the painful process of writing her memoirs, as images from her childhood begin to re-surface. When her former housekeeper is the victim of a violent attack, Bettina begins to realise that she is in serious danger, a danger rooted in a small, dusty outback town.