About the Author

Katharine Susannah Prichard was born in 1883 and grew up in Melbourne and Launceston in Tasmania before moving to Perth, where she remained until her death in 1969. She was married to Gallipoli veteran Hugo (Jim) Throssell, VC. Prichard was a founding member of the Australian Communist Party; she wrote more than fifteen books and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1951. The Academy Award-winning Australian film Shine depicts the close correspondence between Prichard and Australian pianist David Helfgott (Prichard was played by actress Googie Withers).