Sue Woolfe

A demanding, but very rewarding exploration of the destructiveness of unrecognised genius, through the lives of three generations of women. The mother is on the verge of discovering a new form of mathematics, but is driven mad by social isolation and betrayal. The narrator, her daughter, attempts to piece together her work. Meanwhile, her daughter is trying to get her attention ... A stunning novel.

Intermingled with her research into the origins of creativity, Woolfe recounts her several-year struggle with extracting her novel, The Secret Cure, from piles of handwritten notes and diary entries. Novel writers of any ilk, published and unpublished, will likely find this a good read. The facts reported by neuroscientists, the impressions (and confessions) shared by a number of writers who participated in the research, and Woolfe's personal insights are intriguing and informative. She show more makes reference to Isabel Allende, which seems particularly suitable, since Allende's style of starting a story without knowing where it is going is quite similar to Woolfe's own style of working. A bonus for new writers is Woolfe's synopsis of The Secret Cure given as an appendix at the end of the book. Every publisher wants a synopsis of your book; here's a good example. show less

I wanted this book to continue. I loved it. I read it about the same time as some other books ...Hanna's Daughters was one, and I thought it had every bit as much to say about mother-daughter relationships. Also 'Gut Symmetries' by Janette Winterson, which I did not like...this had more to say about the mathematical woman genius.
It makes the point rendered over and over by Dale Spencer in 'Women of Ideas and What Men have Done To Them' but in a fictionalised account, well plotted and show more without the hyperbole to which Spender is prone.

Woolfe is a good writer, and her use of language approaches the delights of Arundhati Roy in God of mall Things (but never surpasses). show less

Kate, a lonely city woman and reluctant student, is asked by her teachers to travel to the middle of the Australian desert to record a dying Aboriginal woman singing an ancient song. Once there, she's confronted by an Aboriginal culture vastly different to her own, and also by the forceful personality of the man who is supposed to help her find the singer. Very soon she is questioning everything she has ever felt about her own country and about her childhood.