Dolly Maunder was born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society’s long-locked doors were starting to creak ajar for women. She grew up in a poor farming family in country New South Wales, but clever, energetic and determined, Dolly spent her restless life pushing at those doors.
Most women like her have disappeared from view, remembered only in family photo albums as remote figures in impossible clothes, or maybe for a lemon-pudding recipe handed down through the generations. Restless Dolly Maunder brings one of these women to life as someone we can recognise and whose struggles we can empathise with.
In this compelling new novel, Kate Grenville uses family memories to imagine her way into the life of her grandmother. This is the story of a woman, working her way through a world of limits and obstacles, who was able – if at a cost – to make a life she could call her own. Her battles and triumphs helped to open doors for the women who came after.
Imagine the joy Kate Grenville’s maternal grandmother would feel to know her daughter’s daughter is a brilliant, award-winning novelist, one of Australia’s finest and revered around the globe. And imagine the joy to know she’s written a novel that made your life nothing short of a seismic intergenerational healing feat. That’s what resonates as you read the pages of this excellently written novel which is part biography, part fiction and part reimagining.
Grenville shows that her grandmother’s life was lived with courage and fortitude, but one which has – as with so many women of that generation – remained invisible. It’s impactful and poignant.
Dolly is a terrific main character, and we’re with her from the outset as a little girl. The descriptions of her inner workings, hopes and the relationship she shares with her father is particularly compelling. A man whom her mother ‘married down’ to wed. He was an early settler who endured a tough life and made good, yet held rigid beliefs around education and women… that their place in life was solely to satellite around men.
So, when Dolly as a youngster attempts to break the mould by sharing her love of learning, she’s met with a formidable brick wall. It’s hard to read this book and not feel heartbroken. Dolly, a woman whose mind was meant to live a big life, is relegated to the drudgery of domestics in a time where housekeeping required a daily trojan effort. Grenville goes into detail over the daily grind but it’s done with steady pacing and candour, allowing you to feel the angst of it.
In this enthralling read, Grenville chronicles her grandmother’s life with courage, compassion and insight. She captures Dolly’s longing for a big life brilliantly through her rhythm and descriptions. Dolly, thwarted from a life she had the ability and desire for by the rules and mores of the day, is given her time to shine. It’s heartfelt, captivating and, ultimately, a liberating read. I highly recommend it.
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