Summary: Madeleine St John was a fascinating writer. The author of amongst other works, The Women in Black and The Essence of the Thing – which saw her as the first Australian woman short-listed for the Booker prize. The Australian part of that acknowledgement didn’t thrill Madeleine though as she had, at that point, become very much an English writer in her own mind. Fiesty and formidable, brilliant but damaged, Madeleine St John makes for a character as fine as any she wrote, and Helen Trinca, managing editor at The Australian has looked into her life, writing and the moments that defined her in Helen’s new book Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John. Helen joined Sky Kirkham to talk about Madeleine St John, her father Ted St John and researching a person's life. Originally broadcast on 18/04/2013. Madeleine is out now through Text.
