The church has an extensive library of religious material, current fiction (in small and large type), nonfiction, reference books, audio tapes, DVD's and video tapes.    New and used books and other items are added to the collection on a regular basis.  

Church members and friends are welcome to check out material for one month at a time using our simple check-out system.  The Library is located on the shelves in the Education Wing hallway and in the Lombard Lounge.  Librarians often bring the book cart into the Narthex on Sunday mornings.  

Donations are accepted at the discretion of the Librarians.  You may leave donated materials  in the basket marked "Donations" located in the Education Wing Hallway

__________________________________________________________

BookNotes                                                  By Priscilla H.

This week’s BookNotes column is about the book and movie discussed at the January meeting of the Women’s Book Group.      

“My Brilliant Career” by Miles Franklin

Miles Franklin was born Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin in the Australian outback of 1879.  At the age of 16, she wrote her first novel, “My Brilliant Career.”  Though Australian publishers were unwilling to accept it, the book was eventually published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1901.

In 1900, Franklin  was living in Sydney, Australia, working in domestic service and writing articles for “The Bulletin.” She was actively involved in the Australian Women’s movement. In 1909, Franklin’s second novel “Some Everyday Folk and Dawn” was published.      With the outbreak of the First World War, she left for London, England to help on the front lines.  While in England, she wrote a sequence of six novels published under the name: “Brent of Bin Bin.”  The novels tell the story of a group of pastoral families living in the Australian frontier from the 1850’s to the 1930’s.  The main character, Brent of Bin Bin is based on herself. They were wildly popular.

In 1933, Franklin returned to Sydney for good. In 1936 she published, “All That Swagger,” one of her finest novels. She spent a good deal of her time encouraging young writers.  In 1946 she published the final story of Sybylla Melvyn (the main character in “My Brilliant Career”) in “My Career Goes Bung.”  When she initially wrote “My Career Goes Bung” it was rejected by publishers as “too outspoken.”  It had taken 30 years to get into print.

All told, Franklin wrote 10 - 12 novels during her career.  When Franklin died at the age of 75, she left 500 pounds annually establishing a prize for the best Australian writer of fiction about Australia. The “Miles Franklin Award” is a coveted prize.

In 1979, “My Brilliant Career” was made into a movie.  The director, producer, associate producer, and production designer were all women. The movie was well received at the Cannes Film Festival, and received six Australian Academy Awards. It was a hit in Australia, New Zealand, England, and America.

The story revolves around a young woman named Sybylla who grows up in a large, poor family in the outback of dry Australia during a long drought. She is torn by what is expected of her by society, and by her love of music, literature, and art. She believes that if she should marry, it will be the end of her career.

According to the director, when the movie was made, it was a “radical concept” in the media “for a woman to say no to marriage and to turn a man down.” Can you imagine, if this was a “radical concept” in the media in the 1980’s, how radical it must have been when the book was published in 1901?!  Note that Franklin uses her great-great-grandfather’s name of “Miles”  rather than her female name. This book, and the movie, raise a lot of questions about the ability of women to “have it all.” Is it possible to have a career, marriage and children, and not be exhausted? Just how much have times changed since the book’s publication and the movie’s release?            

Both the movie and the book are in our church library. Check them out!

Read and Digest