Gabrielle Carey

Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family Gabrielle Carey

As her mother Joan lies dying, Gabrielle Carey writes a letter to Joan?s childhood friend, the reclusive novelist Randolph Stow. This letter sets in motion a literary pilgrimage that reveals long-buried family secrets. Like her mother, Stow had grown up in Western Australia. After early literary success and a Miles Franklin Award in 1958 for his novel To the Islands, he left for England and a life of self-imposed exile. Living most of her life on the east coast, Gabrielle was also estranged from her family?s west Australian roots but never questioned why. A devoted fan of Stow?s writing, she becames fascinated by his connection with her extended family, but before she can meet him he dies. With only a few pieces of correspondence to guide her, Gabrielle embarks on a journey from the red-dirt landscape of Western Australia to the English seaside town of Harwich in a quest to understand her family?s past and Stow?s place in it. Moving Among Strangers is a celebration of one of Australia?s most enigmatic and visionary writers.