One Life
by Grenville, Kate
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 1782116877
- ISBN 13
- 9781782116875
- Seller
-
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Canongate Books. New. Special order item direct from the distributor
Reviews
On May 12 2015, CloggieDownunder said:
“It was different for Nance. She wasn’t dependent on a man. In fact, she thought that might be part of the problem. She’d been running her own life for so long, she was used to shaping things as she wanted…….She was like those girls who learned to dance with other girls, taking turns to be the man. They never got the hang of following, once they knew what it was like to lead.”
One Life is a biography of Nance Isobel Gee, written by her daughter, popular Australian author, Kate Grenville. Nance was born in 1912. Against the odds for a woman of her humble background, Nance attended Sydney University, became a registered pharmacist and owned her own pharmacy. But this simplistic summation of her life is completely inadequate, for Nance did much, much more with her life. As Grenville relates the incidents and events that punctuated Nance’s life, she takes the reader back to another era, one on the cusp of major change. Schooling, work, war, sexual discrimination, motherhood, political affiliations and even building a house feature in this interesting and entertaining memoir: “Why shouldn’t a woman lay bricks? The world would never change if someone wasn’t prepared to be the first.”
While this may be a memoir, Grenville still manages to treat the reader to some wonderfully evocative prose: “They woke to a day so hot and still the air was like something solid. All morning a cloud gathered on the horizon and by afternoon it filled the sky, dark with a dangerous green underbelly like a bruise. Then one great blast of wind, and the hail starting all at once, like someone spilling peas out of a colander” is just one example. Many of the images on the twenty-four pages of photographs will strike a chord with readers of a certain vintage, who may well have similar photographs of their own family.
Grenville explains: “Her story is unusual in some ways, but in other ways it’s the archetypal twentieth-century story of the coming of a new world of choices and self-determination” Those who knew her have described Nance Gee as a remarkable woman: this is a description which Grenville’s biography proves is certainly very apt. Once again, Grenville treats her readers to a brilliant read.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Russell Books Ltd (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- R9781782116875
- Title
- One Life
- Author
- Grenville, Kate
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 1782116877
- ISBN 13
- 9781782116875
- Publisher
- Canongate Books
- This edition first published
- 2016
Terms of Sale
Russell Books Ltd
For further information - (250) 361-4447 (GST applied to all Canadian orders). Shipping prices are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. Canadian and U.S. orders sent with Automated Package Tracking and delivery confirmation, where available. If your book order is heavy or over-sized, we may contact you regarding any extra shipping costs.
About the Seller
Russell Books Ltd
Biblio member since 2006
Victoria, British Columbia
About Russell Books Ltd
Family owned and operated since 1961. Located in Downtown Victoria selling new, used, and remainder titles in all categories. We also have an extensive selection of Journals, cards and calendars.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...