Christina Stead

[rgdmalaysia]

I recently read THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN by Christina Stead and it is honestly, one of the most amazing books I've ever read...Certainly one if not the best description of faulty family dynamics I have ever come across.

Loosely based on Stead's childhood, This book (which really deserves a lot more attention beyond its cult reputation) leaves an impression that is impossible to shake....You live and breathe and in a twisted way understand the flawed mother and father figures presented here....They are both unforgettable characters.

From Randall Jarell's excellent forward for the 1965 re-issue

"If all mankind had been reared in orphan asylums for a thousand years, it could learn to have families again by reading The Man Who Loved Children."

I then looked for other books she wrote but could only find SEVEN POOR MEN OF SYDNEY which was an earlier work not quite as accomplished but an interesting tale with great charcter relationships with each other and Stead's really one of a kind descriptions.

I am wondering if there are any C Stead fans on this forum and what's next to read by her? I am looking FOR LOVE ALONE which is sort of the unofficial sequel to THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN.

[rmd]

Stead's books are hard to find outside of libraries unfortunately. In addition to The Man Who Loved Children, I have read House of All Nations and recommend it.

[rgdmalaysia]

Thanks for the recommendation....I was recently in Australia and it is sad to note that her books are fairly hard to find even there (of course she did leave Australia as a young woman and I don't think she ever lived there full time again)