Become a Readings Member to make your shopping experience even easier. Sign in or sign up for free!

Become a Readings Member. Sign in or sign up for free!

Hello Readings Member! Go to the member centre to view your orders, change your details, or view your lists, or sign out.

Hello Readings Member! Go to the member centre or sign out.

The Seal Woman
Paperback

The Seal Woman

$34.95
Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to your wishlist.

The Seal Woman was first published to acclaim in 1992 but has been out of print for many years. The novel explores the mind of a middle-aged Danish woman mourning the recent death of her husband at sea, in a cottage lent to her by friends in the seaside village in Victoria where she had spent her honeymoon. Farmer's prose is marked by the suppleness of its language, and its extraordinary attention to detail. Dagmar's observations of the sea and its creatures, the light, the mist, the wind, the life of plants are so intense and evocative, it is as if she has dissolved into her surroundings. On the other hand, her passivity leaves her vulnerable to the deceit of others, particularly the man she depends on as her lover. Her retreat into wonder is undercut by a persistent questioning, as to how far it might lead her into a state of submission.

The Seal Woman was originally published two years after A Body of Water, an imaginative montage of journal, commonplace book, stories and poems, which it resembles in its own use of mixed sources, from myth and legend and history. In bringing these two books back into print, alongside Farmer's first work of fiction Alone, and her last books The Bone House and This Water, Giramondo is building on its commitment, not only to this remarkable author, but to the republication of contemporary classics by Australian women authors.

Read More
In Shop
  • Carlton
  • Doncaster (Low stock)
  • Emporium (Low stock)
  • Hawthorn
  • St Kilda (Low stock)
Shipping & Delivery

$9.00 standard shipping within Australia
FREE standard shipping within Australia for orders over $100.00
Express & International shipping calculated at checkout

MORE INFO
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Giramondo Publishing Co
Country
Australia
Date
1 March 2025
Pages
380
ISBN
9781923106260

The Seal Woman was first published to acclaim in 1992 but has been out of print for many years. The novel explores the mind of a middle-aged Danish woman mourning the recent death of her husband at sea, in a cottage lent to her by friends in the seaside village in Victoria where she had spent her honeymoon. Farmer's prose is marked by the suppleness of its language, and its extraordinary attention to detail. Dagmar's observations of the sea and its creatures, the light, the mist, the wind, the life of plants are so intense and evocative, it is as if she has dissolved into her surroundings. On the other hand, her passivity leaves her vulnerable to the deceit of others, particularly the man she depends on as her lover. Her retreat into wonder is undercut by a persistent questioning, as to how far it might lead her into a state of submission.

The Seal Woman was originally published two years after A Body of Water, an imaginative montage of journal, commonplace book, stories and poems, which it resembles in its own use of mixed sources, from myth and legend and history. In bringing these two books back into print, alongside Farmer's first work of fiction Alone, and her last books The Bone House and This Water, Giramondo is building on its commitment, not only to this remarkable author, but to the republication of contemporary classics by Australian women authors.

Read More
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Giramondo Publishing Co
Country
Australia
Date
1 March 2025
Pages
380
ISBN
9781923106260