It is the mid-1960s in Perth and Vicki is bored, restless and up for a challenge. Like many young women of the day, she left school early, lives at home and toils away in a miserable job as a lowly paid typist. She finds solace in the company of her two work friends, Nora and Gwenda, with whom she shares morning tea, biscuits and the latest titbits of gossip. When Gwenda suggests she read Coonardoo by Katharine Susannah Prichard, life begins to look up for Vicki. The novel bowls Vicki over and she decides to read everything she can get hold of by and about Katharine, recording her discoveries in her diary. Gwenda supports Vicki's project, Nora doesn't. She's more interested in Gwenda's troubled relationship with her boyfriend, Andy. Vicki's mother thinks her daughter is wasting her time reading books by a local radical author when she should be looking for a nice boy to marry. But with the help of a friendly librarian and a retired schoolteacher to guide her through Katharine's works, Vicki uncovers a completely different way of looking at the world and slowly begins to chart a future that is entirely her own. AUTHOR: Denise Faithfull was born and grew up in Western Australia. She left to travel in Europe and worked in London before moving to live in California with her photographer husband. After eight years in publishing and journalism, Denise returned to Australia and settled in Sydney. She worked in journalism and as free-lance book editor before joining TAFE where she taught Film and Media Studies, Communication and HSC English and began research for a PhD.Denise's PhD thesis, completed at the University of Sydney, explores the process of adapting literature to film and is the basis for Adaptations: A Guide to Adapting Literature to Film, published by Currency Press. She has published numerous short articles on film and literature including 'On Literary Pilgrimages' which appears in Kaleidoscope: The Colours of Katharine, a commemorative anthology honouring Katharine Susannah Prichard published by Wild Weeds Press. One of Denise's favourite activities is to go on a literary pilgrimage. She has followed the footsteps of many of the writers she most admires, including Katharine Susannah Prichard, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf and is thinking about her next pilgrimage.
