Summary
Leon Joyce’s years with Tess Wachowicz began with an Emanuel Ungaro taffeta ballgown, part of his collection of women’s attire kept in three wardrobes at the South Yarra house. The collection took in Givenchy, Jacques Fath, Schiaparelli, Madae Grès, Helmut Lang, Claire McCardell, Mainbocher, Miyake, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Dior, Travis Banton, Pucci and Antony Price.
Leon is a man unburdened by sexual desire. Nonetheless he adores his wife—only partly for the way she wears his exq…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781922079916 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 192207991X |
| Author: | Robert Hillman |
| Publisher: | Text Publishing |
| Imprint: | Text Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 346 |
| Release Date: | 23 April 2014 |
| Weight: | 470g |
| Dimensions: | 60mm x 234mm x 161mm |
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Critics Review
‘Ravishing, compelling prose…A strangely funny, compelling, and sad novel, the beauty of which is found in searching for what remains once beauty has disappeared.’–Bookslut
‘Hillman allows both men the grace of redemption and the prospect of a better kind of happiness, complete with its scars. Joyful is exactly as it says, a great joy of a book. Robert Hillman is not making fun of grief but rather of his characters’ determination to wallow in their sorrow. It is a constant balancing act, skillfully enforced by Hillman and it makes reading Joyful an act of absolute pleasure.’ * Hoopla *
‘A deft and original portrayal of grief, longing and forgiveness.’ – Gideon Haigh
‘Hillman has a carefully calibrated sense of the line between mourning and madness, and he plays it to the hilt… Hillman’s prose is a pleasure to read, elegantly alert to the paradox of strong feeling, full of poetry yet never entirely convinced by the absurd rhetorical gestures favoured by ruined men.’ * Weekend Australian *
‘This calamitous work, brassy with the vigour of life in a specifically Australian, specifically contemporary way, singles Hillman out from the crowd. There is nothing around quite like it; no genre, no homage to acknowledge. Leon, in his journey towards acceptance of the duality of one life, is a memorable, even dear character, and I would have been happy to have read this glittering, noisy work for Leon alone. And for Susie…and for the happy ending.’ * Sydney Morning Herald *
‘A story about redemption and negotiating a place of peace inside despair.’ * Saturday Paper *
‘Slightly crazed, this unconventional story is essentially two similar struggles, at once both funny and sad. They finally merge and find resolution.’ * Otago Daily Times *
‘Ravishing, compelling prose…It’s a strangely funny, compelling, and sad novel, the beauty of which is found in searching for what remains once beauty has disappeared.’ * Bookslut *
About The Author
Robert Hillman
Robert Hillman has written a number of books including his 2004 memoir The Boy in the Green Suit, which won the National Biography Award, and bestselling novel The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted. He died in 2024.
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