The Road from Coorain

Amazon.com

There is a clarity, elegance, and beauty to Conway's Road to Coorain that places it firmly at the apogee of autobiography along with such masterpieces as West With the Night by Beryl Markham, or An American Childhood, by Annie Dillard.

From the first sentence, you will be drawn inexorably into the story of her childhood in New South Wales, Australia, and her gradual discovery of--and by--the larger world: the clarity of Conway's language satisfies like cold clear water after a day in the desert: the rhythm of her sentences has a timelessness and expansiveness akin to the Australian landscape itself. This is very likely a book you will remember the rest of your life. Highly Recommended.

From Publishers Weekly

At age 11, Conway ( Women Reformers and American Culture ) left the arduous life on her family's sheep farm in the Australian outback for school in war-time Sydney, burdened by an emotionally dependent, recently widowed mother. A lively curiosity and penetrating intellect illuminate this unusually objective account of the author's progress from a solitary childhood--the most appealing part of the narrative--to public achievement as president of Smith College and now professor at MIT. Gifted with an ability to adapt to a wide range of cultures and people and despite ingrained Australian prejudice against intellectuals, Conway devoted herself to the study of history and literature, spurred on by excellent British-style schooling. Her further adventures could easily make a rewarding second volume. Paperback rights to Vintage; QPBC alternate. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.