I am not sure if I liked this book, I liked parts of it and not other parts, the characters were not really likeable. Lillian Singer is born in 1900, the year of Federation in Australia. The whole family is a bit strange, her mother is mentally fragile, her father takes to his bed for months and is not allowed to see a newspaper, her brother John is very introverted and probably is autistic or has Aspergers and Lillian has an extremely vivid imagination and has trouble making friends and loves food so becomes obese. Lillian is very clever and gets to University, and makes a couple of friends. She is desperate to be loved, as she has not had any love from her family. It is a very sad story, as Lillian is committed to a mental health institution, the ‘loony bin’, by her father as he does not like her behavior, but eventually gains her freedom but remains distant from her family, and eventually becomes homeless.

To be released at meetup

Caught today.

First published in 1985 this is the beautifully written debut novel of Aussie author Kate Grenville. It tells the story of Lilian, a perennial outsider and unlikely literary heroine. An absolutely great read.

To the finder of this book -
Please let me know it is in safe hands by journalling that you have caught it, you are under no obligation to read it and Bookcrossing is completely anonymous.