The Newspaper of Claremont Street [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Jolley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 1987

This is the story of an old cleaning woman, known as Weekly, or 'The Newspaper'. Unknown to the residents of Claremont Street, for whom she works, Weekly dreams of escape - escape from the parasitic demands of both her past and her present. Weekly is one of Elizabeth Jolly's major creations; one of the wiry survivors whose vulnerability is Jolley's special task of illumination. This character is perhaps the author's outstanding achievement to date, and is created with humour, sharpness, not a little sympathy, and finally, a sort of desperate calm.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Australian author (The Well) imprints the heroine of her new novel indelibly upon the reader's imagination. To the people whose houses she cleans, Margarite Morris is "Newspaper" or "Weekly." She tells everyone about all the events in the neighborhood but nothing about herself. Through the author's artistry, however, Weekly's private life becomes real and immediate as she reviews her deprived childhood, mourns for her selfish brother, a small-time crook beloved and spoiled by Weekly and her widowed mother, long dead. Working steadily now in her later years, she accumulates a pile of earnings like a miser, the foundation of her dream to escape into blessed solitude, out of the city into the country. When she finally has enough money, Weekly buys some acreage with a small cabin, her own home at last, but the idyll is threatened by an interloper. What happens then is a stunning resolution to the sad, sometimes wildly funny, altogether wonderful story.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

'Elizabeth Jolley joins the handful of Australian writers ... of whom it may be said that their books are able to alter the direction of one's inner life' WASHINGTON POST 'Her writing is splendid, her characters various, her humour delicious ... one of the best writers of fiction in this country' AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 116 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First US edition (December 2, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670809462
• ISBN-13: 978-0670809462
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,243,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)