At Random House Australia, I thank Nikki Christer and Catherine Hill for her excellent editing.

A fellowship from the Australian Research Council made possible the research that underpins this novel. I am very grateful for this support. However the views expressed in The Mountain are mine and not necessarily those of the Australian Research Council.

For further notes on sources, please see www.drusillamodjeska.com.

Photo: Antonia Hayes

Drusilla Modjeska is one of Australia’s most acclaimed writers. She was born in England but lived in Papua New Guinea before arriving in Australia in 1971. Her books include Exiles at Home; the NSW Premier’s Award winner Poppy; Sisters, which she co-edited; the Nita B. Kibble, NSW Premier’s Award and Australian Bookseller’s Book of the Year Award winner The Orchard; Timepieces; and Secrets with Robert Dessaix and Amanda Lohrey. She is also the author of the bestselling Stravinsky’s Lunch, winner of the Nita B. Kibble and the NSW Premier’s Award. The Mountain is her first novel.

Also by Drusilla Modjeska

Non-fiction

Women Writers: a study in Australian cultural history 1920-39

Exiles at Home: Australian women writers 1925-45

Inner Cities: Australian women’s memory of place

Poppy

The Orchard

Secrets (with Robert Dessaix and Amanda Lohrey)

Stravinsky’s Lunch

Timepieces

Edited

The Poems of Lesbia Harford

Sisters

The Best Australian Essays 2006

The Best Australian Essays 2007

Praise for The Mountain

‘[A] heartfelt, intelligent book’

Australian Book Review

‘A sophisticated piece of writing’

Courier-Mail

‘[An] intelligent and insightful novel … [a] rewarding historical and human drama’

Adelaide Advertiser

‘Eloquent … Modjeska’s narrative skills are everywhere apparent … a richly textured, satisfyingly complex effort of storytelling’

Sydney Morning Herald

‘A conduit into a fascinating yet frequently misunderstood country … The Mountain has much to recommend it’

Bookseller+Publisher

‘Modjeska details clan relations and rituals, spectacles of dance and plumage, art and ancestor stories … A significant and textured work’

The Melbourne Review

‘The Mountain is a wonderful novel that provides insight into both the culture and the issues facing Papua New Guinea (as well as its landscape) and a beautiful story of passion and loss’

Sunday Age

‘The Mountain is at once a luminous work of fiction and an anatomy of ideas of light and enlightenment … In the entwinement of large and smaller histories Modjeska brings her honed talents to the creation of a multifarious, extraordinary and dazzling novel that feels nothing like a debut’

Weekend Australian

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