Rosalyn Russell was Manning Clark’s research assistant from when she began working on Vol V1 of A History of Australia in 1982. This selection has been made from various sources supplied for further reading. The letters begin from 1938 and the pre-war climate, and end in the 1990s when Clark’s health is fast declining and his ability to write fails him. They reveal the intimate side of Clark’s complex character, his unquenchable intellectual thirst, and his lifetime quest for religious grace. He religiously wrote to his friends, family and close acquaintances. These detailed narratives provide information on the social structure of the countries he visited, and the varied climate of academia wherever he went. Visible throughout the text is the dependency on, and longing for, his wife Dymphna, during every separation. (Dymphna pared down her own academic dreams to marry Clark-and raise their six children during his frequent and long absences overseas.) The tone of the letters change with each chronological era, which also represents a different stage of Clark’s life. There are some letters whose meanings are obscure without the clarifying reply side. His two-volume autobiography, Puzzles of Childhood and Quest for Grace, should help alleviate many questions.

Anastasia Gonis is a former bookseller, freelance reviewer and monthly contributor to Buzz Words and Good Reading magazine

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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