by Sara Dowse
The Canberra Times
July 18, 2009
Anne Summers and I go back along way.
That can be a bit of a worry for a reviewer, especially if you don’t like what you’re reading.
To my great relief and boundless pleasure then, I can confidently say that The Lost Mother is an absolute treasure of a book. [ ... ]
Summers’ achievements for women have been substantial but, like your reviewer, she is fundamentally a writer. Damned Whores and God’s Police was a groundbreaking book, arguably the earliest general history of Australian women. She was awarded a doctorate on the strength of it, and it’s been reprinted and set on course syllabuses ever since. It’s had its detractors – what book doesn’t? – but there is no denying its importance. There have been other books, including her memoir Ducks on the Pond, but somehow, to my mind, none quite measured up to that first one. Until now.
