The Commandant - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140059105 ISBN 13: 9780140059106

Publisher: Penguin, 1982

Synopsis

The Commandant is a historical novel originally published in 1975, and evolves from the history of the early Moreton Bay penal settlement, now known as Brisbane. When prisoners escape from Moreton Bay to Sydney with their stories of harsh punishment, the fledgling press takes their side. Commandant Logan is forced to face the reaction to his harsh discipline after the arrival of his young sister-in-law, Frances, who is unable to bear the brutality and whippings that are everyday life in Moreton Bay. The question is ultimately: who is the prisoner - the convict or commandant?

About this title

About the Author

Jessica Anderson was born in Gayndah, Queensland in 1916. She left school at the age of sixteen before briefly studying art at Brisbane Technical College. For most of her life she lived in Sydney.
Anderson wrote stories and adapted novels for radio before she published her first novel, "An Ordinary Lunacy," in 1963. In 1978, she won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for "Tirra Lirra by the River," and again in 1980 for "The Impersonators," which also won the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction. In 1987 her story collection, "Stories from the Warm Zone," won the "Age" Book of the Year award.
Jessica Anderson died in July 2010, at the age of ninety-three.
Carmen Callil founded Virago Press in 1972 and later became managing director of Chatto & Windus and the Hogarth Press. Since 1995 she has worked as a writer and critic. She is the author of "Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family and Fatherland," and co-author, with Colm Toibin, of "The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English since 1950."

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140059105
• ISBN 13: 9780140059106
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312