Amira suggested this one by Jill Ker Conway way back when, and I’m glad I finally got around to reading it. Conway led a very insteresting, and possibly uniquely Australian childhood, and it was fascinating reading about it. I enjoyed her vivid descriptions, both of the landscape around her and of the people she came in contact with in her life (a phrase she used in describing a friend — “dazzling cornflower eyes” — really struck me). I was amazed at the horribleness of her mother. It took Conway years to realize that her mother was being, in our current language, abusive and get the nerve to get out of the relationship (which isn’t easy when it’s your own mother!). Still, it never occured to her mother that she was being that way. Which led to some interesting reflection on Conway’s part. As did being a woman in a very male society. Her account of her discrimination when applying to and her ultimate rejection from the Australian Department of External Affairs was very insightful. A good book.