Down in the City

Down in the City
Author Elizabeth Harrower
Country Australia
Language English
Genre Literary fiction
Publisher Text Publishing
Publication date
 1957
2013 (re-published)
Media type Print
Pages 352 pp
ISBN 9781922147042
Preceded by –
Followed by "The Long Prospect"

Down in the City is the 1957 debut novel by Australian writer Elizabeth Harrower.[1] It is set in post-war Sydney.

Plot outline

Esther Prescott lives a sheltered, privileged life in Sydney's harbourside Rose Bay. She is the only female member of her family, and has seen little of life outside of her upper-class suburb. She meets the self-made man Stan Peterson and the two are hastily married. After their wedding, Esther moves into a King's Cross apartment with him, and he quickly reveals himself to be a tyrannical, egotistical drunk.[2]

Their relationship is further complicated by nosy residents of the building, and the return of Stan's ex-girlfriend, Vivian. Prescott finds herself at somewhat of a crossroads–her passivity and stoic matter are tested when her married life begins to unravel at the hands of her obstreperous, manipulative husband.

Themes

Down in the City deals with class divisions, opportunity, marriage and domestic violence in post-war Sydney.[3]

Reception

The novel was first published in London and was well regarded at the time.[4] Like all of Harrower's other novels, it went out of print for a considerable period before being re-published by Text Publishing, apart of their Classics series, in October 2013.[5] This contains an introduction by Delia Falconer.

Tara Judah, writing for Readings in 2013, noted that the novel is "far more biting than the melodramatic premise might suggest", and further commented on the juxtaposition of its Australian and English culture: "the novel feels equally as interested in Englishness as it is in Australianness".[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Elizabeth Harrower was at the first Adelaide Writer's Week in 1960". The Advertiser. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Elizabeth Harrower: nearly 90 and still dangerous". The Australian. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "Review: In Certain Circles by Elizabeth Harrower". The Conversation. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  4. ↑ "Elizabeth Harrower doesn't want spoilers to her own novel". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  5. ↑ "Text Publishing - Down in the City". Text Publishing. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Judah, Tara (25 October 2013). "Review: Down in the City by Elizabeth Harrower". Readings.
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