An Ordinary Lunacy

by Jessica Anderson

When David Byfield sees Isobel for the first time at a party, he decides that he has fallen in love with her. An attractive and successful lawyer, David is being groomed for a political career; his experience with love and intimacy, however, is limited.

Months after the party, Isobel's alcoholic husband is found dead in their shabby apartment, an apparent suicide. Then Isobel is accused of his murder and David steps up to defend her both as lawyer and friend. But Isobel's case is more than he bargained for...

Set in contemporary Sydney, Jessica Anderson's first novel is a perceptive and witty portrait of men and women caught between their desires and their obligations, and the choices we all make for - or in spite of - love.

Genres: Australia

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

This is Jessica^Anderson, where ^=space.

About the Author:
Jessica Margaret Anderson (25 September 1916 – 9 July 2010) was an Australian novelist and short story writer.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Ordinary Lunacy was Jessica Anderson’s first book, published in 1963 by Macmillan in London and by Scribner in New York, and reissued in paperback by Penguin in 1987. She made this debut on the cusp of the feminisation of the Australian novel — exemplified in the work of the great writers in the 1970s (1): Thea Astley, Elizabeth Harrower, Barbara Hanrahan, Shirley Hazzard and Beverley Farmer (all of whom have a presence on this blog). Even in this early novel she anticipated the C20th century trend away from stories of innocent victims and towards showing the spread of duplicity and guilt to all who are implicated. [2] As in her later and most celebrated novel Tirra Lirra by the River (1978, see my review), marriage in An Ordinary Lunacy looks like a dubious proposition…

The ‘lunacy’ of the title revolves around the prospect of an unsuitable marriage. David Byfield is, at thirty-five, a confirmed bachelor who (out of sheer inertia) lives with his mother, Daisy and their poor relation Possie whom they exploit as an unpaid housekeeper. He’s also a barrister, who is inveigled into representing in court Isobel Purdy who is accused of murdering her wastrel husband, Richard, found with his head in a gas oven. Public opinion has already convicted her, and so have the characters pretending to be aloof from the scandal but actually enjoying it. But the evidence is flimsy, and the cynics reckon a woman will always get off anyway. All this is irrelevant once David becomes enamoured of Isobel — who is vague, dreamy and irresistibly sexy. Daisy (who’s a mostly amusing snob) is appalled when David announces that they will marry, while David’s ex-lover Myra Magaskill is more sanguine because she herself has chosen love over social position.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/09/10/a...

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book engrossed me from beginning to end - the characters were so well drawn. It was also a convincing portrait of Sydney manners in the post-war years. I did have some quibbles about the character of Isobel Purdy - exasperatingly passive - and, with only a couple of exceptions, none of the characters were particularly likeable. But Jessica Anderson was a deservedly celebrated novelist in her time - she knew how to make you want to turn the next page.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

A feeble and witless attempt at a Agatha Christie type, psychcological "did she do it or didn't she do it" English Who-Done-It with very disappointing results, so much so thst it wasn't worth the time to read it or buy it in a used bookstore.