Bernadette Brennan

But she also can stand up and is still instantly recognisable as a lady when she greets a visitor at the door.

So she still has retained this class training.

Yes, and you're right, that prize is such a gift to the nation.

I would say the language is sometimes surprising and wonderful, and I'm just thinking of the Meswat's awfully untuned piano, which she describes as that demented piano, which some of the expressions just leapt out.

I think her characters are...

quickly drawn but deep and you feel very, very close to them in a real sense.

You know them very quickly.

I liked that.

But yes, I think, Maggie, that emerging and unashamed love of Australia and luxuriating in the natural world is really one of the most startling parts of it and I loved it for that.

Most of the time, I haven't found it a problem.

And certainly on the Premier's Literary Awards, I've done a few years and the ALS Gold Medal over the years.

The ALS?

Australian Literary Society, which is the oldest literary award in the country.

And it's judged by academics.

So it's considered as, you know, a worthy peer review, if you like.

But the prize is only a gold medal, which is now a fake gold medal.

and $1,000, but it's a prestigious award.

Very rarely have I come across great conflict, but it does happen occasionally.

And one of the joys I find of judging is when you can sit down with your fellow judges, a little bit like this show, and thrash out the various books that you're thinking about and discuss why one of you thinks something and one of you thinks another.

And that is the real joy of judging.