The House of Blue Grass (Alan Atkinson, NewSouth)

Alan Atkinson’s The House of Blue Glass is ostensibly a biography of Penelope Lucas, “the first well-educated woman to travel from Europe to Australia without the ‘protection’ of a husband or brother”. She was born in 1769 and came to Australia in 1805, where she was a governess and accountant who lived with the prominent Macarthur family. In reality, Atkinson (Elizabeth and John: The Macarthurs of Elizabeth Farm) employs what he calls an “archaeological method”, looking at historical context and using guesswork and probability to unearth the life of a woman who left very little trace. To counter this, he takes his cues from other historical records, including firsthand accounts, surviving legal documents and even fiction books of the time. It is a sprawling work that tracks the lives of women in society at the time, touching on everything from childbearing to scientific discoveries, from trade and accounting to class and social mores. Rather than a portrait, Atkinson’s work creates a type of photogram, a picture of the subject carved out of shadows. With quotes from a range of sources, such as Daniel Defoe, Mary Astell, Virginia Woolf and Laurence Sterne, The House of Blue Glass is a sometimes fascinating but meandering story that can feel padded. While Penelope Lucas serves as a chronological focal point, pulling us through the mass of information, she remains a silent and unknown figure, lost in the detail. For fans of Sonia Purnell or Anna Funder’s Wifedom.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Fay Helfenbaum is a freelance writer and editor and was a bookseller for five years. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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