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Ink in Her Veins: The Troubled life of Aileen Palmer (Sylvia Martin, UWA Publishing)

Aileen Palmer was the first child of Australian writers Vance and Nettie Palmer, born in London in 1915. The new family moved back to Australia, where Vance and Nettie were both trying to make their mark on the literary scene. Years later at Melbourne University, Aileen became involved in politics, and on a trip to Europe in 1936 she enlisted in the first British Medical Unit to travel to Spain, spending the next two years on the Republican frontlines. In August 1945 she reluctantly returned to Australia from England, recording in her diary: ‘Coming home—I’ll always be a foreigner’. Aileen suffered from mental illness from the age of 33 and her later years in Australia were marred by long periods in psychiatric institutions. Sylvia Martin portrays these moments in Aileen’s life with great sensitivity, closely examining Aileen’s autobiographical writing for clues about the people who were most important to her, including the women she loved. Martin crafts an absorbing literary biography around a strong-willed and complex individual: an activist, poet and translator, who was capable of heroic actions in defence of her beliefs, yet who was still troubled by her sexuality. This book is ideal for anyone with an interest in Australian literary history.

Chris Harrington is the co-owner of Books in Print in Melbourne

 

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