Jessica White – September 25 2016

International Week of the Deaf – last week in September

Jessica has been deaf since age four, when she lost all hearing in her left ear and half the hearing in her right from meningitis. When she learned to read, she consumed books voraciously as it was easier than socialising. Growing up on a property near Boggabri in New South Wales she found solace in the silence of the bush where there was none of the anxiety caused by trying to act naturally around other people. In time she learnt about her family’s history and realised she could never properly claim to belong to the land over which her feet had pounded. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts / Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Wollongong and a PhD from the University of London. Her other works include the essay Hearing in Other Ways and the poems ‘Letter From Jean’ and ‘Rebirth’ published in Poetrix May No. 12 1999 and May No. 14 2000 respectively.

Entitlement
Viking, 2012; ISBN 9780670075935
Eight years after the mysterious disappearance of her much-loved brother Eliot, Cate McConville returns to her family farm to discover that her ageing parents want to sell up, severing her only remaining link to him. Forced back to the landscape of her childhood Cate is haunted by memories of Eliot and all that has kept her away. Determined to find her brother and retain the property, she enlists the help of family friend Mellor, her aunt Natalie, and Finchley, the man who has followed her from Sydney on a whim. All have secrets of their own to hide, but Cate senses it’s the land itself that holds the key to unlocking Eliot’s fate, and the part of her that went with him. Entitlement is a compelling story about loss, the heart, and the meaning of home for Indigenous and white Australians.

A Curious Intimacy
Viking, 2007; ISBN 9780670029716
In the 1870s, two remarkable women meet in a remote country town in Western Australia. Botanist Ingrid is hundreds of miles from home, trying to distance herself from a broken heart after her lover was forced to marry. She finds solace in the bush and its delicate orchids and trigger plants. Ellyn is a young woman living in stark isolation and driven close to madness by the death of her baby daughter. Her husband is away indefinitely, and she’s had no word from him. When the two women meet, they forge a bond that grows ever deeper. But can their intimacy find acceptance in their conventional world?