I am really enjoying th Lost mother. The reason I choose it to read is that your portrayal of Melbourne and the funny catholic groups such as the Grail reminds me of my mother in law and grandmother in law who hail from Melbourne and came out of a similar milieu. MIL went to a expensive private girls school and her parent collected on a much smaller scale art, some of which remind me of Constance stokes portrait of your mother. I also read a blog of a youngish mother who has stopped her painting because it affects her mothering and she adheres to a very rigorous interpretation of Catholicism which I find very odd. Such denial of your life impulses has always struck me as not good for you as everyone, mums included need something of their own for mental good health. Her life philosophy remind me of the artist you have looked at in your book. Your story of your granddad and his cruelty toward your father and uncle really makes you wonder how much cruelty, callousness and sheer abuse was blamed on the fact he was in the war. In my mother’s family two men who came back from the second world war and were hopeless in later life were definitely affected by the experiences they had but in another case it was yet another excuse for a form of cruel tyranny

It also doesn’t really appear to be the kind of work that I’ve seen of Constance Stokes.

I’ve just finished reading the book and thought it was great. It reminds me of the family detective work I have been doing with my US cousin. I have only been doing this for the past year or so, but my cousin got interested in the family stuff while she was still at school, only eight years ago. Anyway, the book encouraged me to look at the Victorian Public Records office, and I’ve just found the will of our great, great grandmother. She is another Russian, from Minsk. I’ve emailed my cousin and she is so excited!
Thanks again for the book.

I was unable to put down The Lost Mother, until it was completed. The dishes piled high, job applications untouched, my future on hold until I finished the story. Anne, you write with a clarity which allows me to sail through your books. And of course, you can engage with a story of a difficult mother daughter relationship even more closely when it reflects your own experience. Be they Catholic or Jewish, their power and influence shapes you and requires distance to enable reflection and individuation. I am glad to read of your relationship with your mother which mirrors in its emotional themes the one I had with my own mother, may she rest in peace. It has made me feel much less alone with my irreconciled relationship.

Dammed Whores and God’s Police is one of the legacy’s of the strong feminism I inherited from my mother. My mother, Vera Levin, was a shining example of the outcomes of Whitlam’s education reforms. As a mature aged student, she studied your book as part of her Arts, and later., Law Degree, which led her to being the oldest woman to be admitted to the NSW Bar in 1983. The fact is documented in newspapers, and her story also written in and oft quoted, in Jocelyn Scutt’s book, Different Lives.

Thank you for this wonderful expose, and for normalising some of my experiences. Congratulations on your wonderful book.

With sincere regards
Liana Levin