Edwina Preston’s Bad Art Mother blends wit and pathos, love and fury, ambition and loss. A portrait of bohemian 1960s Melbourne, the novel is a ‘love song to Melbourne set during the cultural transitions of the post war period’.
The novel centres on frustrated poet Veda Gray, who is offered a Faustian bargain when a wealthy, childless couple invite her to exchange her young son Owen for time to write. Veda struggles with her decision, and against the patriarchal society in which she lives, while also asking herself: what kind of mother would give up her child?
The launch of Bad Art Mother at Melbourne’s Readings Bookshop in Carlton was a resounding success last month. Read on for words from launcher Janine Burke and Literary Agent Jenny Darling.
Continue readingBanner image: Die Hämische (detail), Egon Schiele
