From the time Christina Stead, a shy Australian girl in London, met William J Blake, a cosmopolitan American, theirs was one of the great love stories. Dearest Munx presents the extraordinary correspondence that records their lives together from 1928 until Blake's death in 1968. The letters take us from London and Paris to New York and Hollywood and back to post-war Europe, mingling domestic detail and world events, hopes and disappointments.
This exceptional collection gives a rare glimpse into the life and thoughts of one of Australia's most renowned novelists. Especially revealing is the intensity of Christina Stead's relationship with her life partner, the paradoxical Marxist banker and author. Although less well known, William J Blake was the dominant character in Christina's story – a lover, mentor and literary confidante. Striking insights into Stead's fiction also emerge from these energetic, witty and moving letters. Margaret Harris skilfully guides the reader through their story, teasing out the relationship between fact and fiction, literature and life. Dearest Munx is simultaneously an unusual love story, an intriguing insight into the writerly mind and a rich and valuable contribution to Stead's literary legacy.
