Girl With A Monkey
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Yellowed
In the sun-drenched world of post-war Australia, Thea Astley's debut novel Girl with a Monkey chronicles the restless inner life of Elsie Shelton, a young woman navigating the suffocating expectations of a conservative society while tethered to a relationship that no longer serves her. Set against the vivid backdrop of a Brisbane still finding its postwar footing, the novel captures a single defining day in which Elsie's quiet dissatisfaction erupts into a series of sharp, revelatory encounters, laying bare the tensions between personal freedom and social conformity. Astley writes with a sardonic wit and lyrical precision that would come to define her celebrated career, and Girl with a Monkey stands as a remarkable early testament to her distinctive voice. The novel sits firmly within the tradition of Australian literary realism, yet its unflinching psychological portrait of a woman straining against the invisible bonds of mid-century life feels bracingly modern. For readers who have savoured the moral complexity of Patrick White or the wry social observation of Christina Stead, this compact yet resonant debut raises a question that lingers long after the final page: how much of oneself must one surrender to simply belong?
Author: Thea Astley
Format: Hardback
Published: 1958, Angus and Robertson
Genre: Australian history
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Yellowed
In the sun-drenched world of post-war Australia, Thea Astley's debut novel Girl with a Monkey chronicles the restless inner life of Elsie Shelton, a young woman navigating the suffocating expectations of a conservative society while tethered to a relationship that no longer serves her. Set against the vivid backdrop of a Brisbane still finding its postwar footing, the novel captures a single defining day in which Elsie's quiet dissatisfaction erupts into a series of sharp, revelatory encounters, laying bare the tensions between personal freedom and social conformity. Astley writes with a sardonic wit and lyrical precision that would come to define her celebrated career, and Girl with a Monkey stands as a remarkable early testament to her distinctive voice. The novel sits firmly within the tradition of Australian literary realism, yet its unflinching psychological portrait of a woman straining against the invisible bonds of mid-century life feels bracingly modern. For readers who have savoured the moral complexity of Patrick White or the wry social observation of Christina Stead, this compact yet resonant debut raises a question that lingers long after the final page: how much of oneself must one surrender to simply belong?