Geordie Williamson

But he also threads through it the account of the failure of his second marriage because of the woman he met on the train on the way down through the south coast towards Canberra on the way to meet her.

And in a way, it's an account of what he was too ashamed to tell her about his own life and young man's philandering ways, even though that she seemed to him to be the Australian novelist who had the most acute knowledge of the human heart.

So in a sense, he's writing her a letter from beyond the grave, describing his own faults and frailties as a man while ennobling hers.

And I think that there's great generosity there and also great skill, literary skill.

So just on the level of the line, you want to read Barry Hill, but his subjects as well just come to vivid life.

Reason and Lovelessness, Collected Essays.