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The Hanging Garden
Two children are brought to a wild garden on the shores of Sydney Harbour to shelter from the Second World War. The boy's mother has died in the Blitz. The girl is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Communist executed in a Greek prison. In wartime Australia, these two children form an extraordinary bond as they negotiate the dangers of life as strangers abandoned on the far side of the world.
With the tenderness and rigour of an old, wise novelist, Patrick White explores the world of these children, the city of his childhood and the experience of war. The Hanging Garden ends as the news reaches Sydney of victory in Europe, and the children face their inevitable separation.
White put the novel aside at this point and how he planned to finish the work remains a mystery. But at his death he left behind a masterpiece in the making, published here for the first time.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2012
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About the author
Patrick White
82 books368 followers There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads. For the Canadian Poet Laureate see "Patrick^^^^^White".
Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian author widely regarded as one of the major English-language novelists of the 20th century, and winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Born in England while his Australian parents were visiting family, White grew up in Sydney before studying at Cambridge. Publishing his first two novels to critical acclaim in the UK, White then enlisted to serve in World War II, where he met his lifelong partner, the Greek Manoly Lascaris. The pair returned to Australia after the war.
Home again, White published a total of twelve novels, two short story collections, eight plays, as well as a miscellany of non-fiction. His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantages and the stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature."
From 1947 to 1964, White and Lascaris lived a retired life on the outer fringes of Sydney. However after their subsequent move to the inner suburb of Centennial Park, White experienced an increased passion for activism. He became known as an outspoken champion for the disadvantaged, for Indigenous rights, and for the teaching and promotion of art, in a culture he deemed often backward and conservative. In their personal life, White and Lascaris' home became a regular haunt for noted figures from all levels of society.
Although he achieved a great deal of critical applause, and was hailed as a national hero after his Nobel win, White retained a challenged relationship with the Australian public and ordinary readers. In his final decades the books sold well in paperback, but he retained a reputation as difficult, dense, and sometimes inscrutable.
Following White's death in 1990, his reputation was briefly buoyed by David Marr's well-received biography, although he disappeared off most university and school syllabuses, with his novels mostly out of print, by the end of the century. Interest in White's books was revived around 2012, the year of his centenary, with all now available again.
Sources: Wikipedia, David Marr's biography, The Patrick White Catalogue
Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian author widely regarded as one of the major English-language novelists of the 20th century, and winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Born in England while his Australian parents were visiting family, White grew up in Sydney before studying at Cambridge. Publishing his first two novels to critical acclaim in the UK, White then enlisted to serve in World War II, where he met his lifelong partner, the Greek Manoly Lascaris. The pair returned to Australia after the war.
Home again, White published a total of twelve novels, two short story collections, eight plays, as well as a miscellany of non-fiction. His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantages and the stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature."
From 1947 to 1964, White and Lascaris lived a retired life on the outer fringes of Sydney. However after their subsequent move to the inner suburb of Centennial Park, White experienced an increased passion for activism. He became known as an outspoken champion for the disadvantaged, for Indigenous rights, and for the teaching and promotion of art, in a culture he deemed often backward and conservative. In their personal life, White and Lascaris' home became a regular haunt for noted figures from all levels of society.
Although he achieved a great deal of critical applause, and was hailed as a national hero after his Nobel win, White retained a challenged relationship with the Australian public and ordinary readers. In his final decades the books sold well in paperback, but he retained a reputation as difficult, dense, and sometimes inscrutable.
Following White's death in 1990, his reputation was briefly buoyed by David Marr's well-received biography, although he disappeared off most university and school syllabuses, with his novels mostly out of print, by the end of the century. Interest in White's books was revived around 2012, the year of his centenary, with all now available again.
Sources: Wikipedia, David Marr's biography, The Patrick White Catalogue
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October 3, 2025DO NOT READ THIS BOOK, IT WAS PUBLISHED BY UNSCRUPULOUS PEOPLE AFTER PATRICK WHITE’S DEATH, DESPITE HIS LAST WISH THAT THE MANUSCRIPT BE DESTROYED.
I refuse to review—or even rate—this book!
In his ‘Afterword’, the prominent Australian journalist, author, and ‘social commentator’ David Marr informs us that “he [Patrick White] had directed his unpublished manuscripts be destroyed”. You notice that this admission is made in a sheepish ‘afterword’, instead of a more customary ‘foreword’, or a plain old ‘introduction’. It’s as though Marr knew full well that followers of Patrick White (of which there are legion!) would stop right there.
The literary executor of White’s will (he died in 1990) was Barbara Mobbs (his agent—may she rest in peace), who subsequently gave 32 boxes (!) of White’s papers to the National Library of Australia. Presumably these ‘papers’ included his unfinished manuscripts (remember, the ones he wanted destroyed?) because indirectly this led to the eventual publication of The Hanging Garden. When first approached about the possibility of publishing this book, Mobbs apparently “was sceptical but did not veto the idea”, but as the project came closer to fruition, she, according to Marr, averred “I have no doubt it deserves to see the light of day”!
Inevitably, Mobbs’s ‘gift’ to the NLA set in train a flurry of so-called research on Patrick White, the only Australian who has ever won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Apparently Elizabeth Webby and Margaret Harris of Sydney University were even awarded an Australian Research Council grant to ‘research’ the papers given so unselfishly to the NLA by Mobbs. Of course Webby and Harris were all atwitter about getting this manuscript published! I would have thought the ARC would have had a few things to say about disrespecting White’s last wish by the publication of this book. But no, nada, not a peep!
Verdict: Shame on Marr, Mobbs, Webby, Harris, and whoever else had a hand in publishing this very much unfinished novel of White’s against his express wishes: you really didn’t do him a favour! Shame also on Random House Australia for actually publishing it. — As an author, don’t expect your last wishes to be respected in these narcissistic and utterly selfish times, especially if you hail from Australia, which seemingly has become the epicentre of hedonism and oafishness.
I refuse to review—or even rate—this book!
In his ‘Afterword’, the prominent Australian journalist, author, and ‘social commentator’ David Marr informs us that “he [Patrick White] had directed his unpublished manuscripts be destroyed”. You notice that this admission is made in a sheepish ‘afterword’, instead of a more customary ‘foreword’, or a plain old ‘introduction’. It’s as though Marr knew full well that followers of Patrick White (of which there are legion!) would stop right there.
The literary executor of White’s will (he died in 1990) was Barbara Mobbs (his agent—may she rest in peace), who subsequently gave 32 boxes (!) of White’s papers to the National Library of Australia. Presumably these ‘papers’ included his unfinished manuscripts (remember, the ones he wanted destroyed?) because indirectly this led to the eventual publication of The Hanging Garden. When first approached about the possibility of publishing this book, Mobbs apparently “was sceptical but did not veto the idea”, but as the project came closer to fruition, she, according to Marr, averred “I have no doubt it deserves to see the light of day”!
Inevitably, Mobbs’s ‘gift’ to the NLA set in train a flurry of so-called research on Patrick White, the only Australian who has ever won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Apparently Elizabeth Webby and Margaret Harris of Sydney University were even awarded an Australian Research Council grant to ‘research’ the papers given so unselfishly to the NLA by Mobbs. Of course Webby and Harris were all atwitter about getting this manuscript published! I would have thought the ARC would have had a few things to say about disrespecting White’s last wish by the publication of this book. But no, nada, not a peep!
Verdict: Shame on Marr, Mobbs, Webby, Harris, and whoever else had a hand in publishing this very much unfinished novel of White’s against his express wishes: you really didn’t do him a favour! Shame also on Random House Australia for actually publishing it. — As an author, don’t expect your last wishes to be respected in these narcissistic and utterly selfish times, especially if you hail from Australia, which seemingly has become the epicentre of hedonism and oafishness.
March 16, 2012
Patrick White's forgotten masterpiece, The Hanging Garden will make many contemporary Australian writers hang their heads in shame. It is that good. This is a book by one of the very greats of literature and it's greatness is immediately apparent.
Forget what you think you know about Patrick White's writing. It is time to be re-introduced.
Beautiful, dark, deep, erotic, disturbing, funny and evocative, The Hanging Garden will delight even the most jaded of readers.
I have read the proof of The Hanging Garden twice. And I will keep it near me for I believe I shall read it a third time and a fourth.
You may buy a copy here > The Hanging Garden by Patrick White : http://bit.ly/xmhoOy
Forget what you think you know about Patrick White's writing. It is time to be re-introduced.
Beautiful, dark, deep, erotic, disturbing, funny and evocative, The Hanging Garden will delight even the most jaded of readers.
I have read the proof of The Hanging Garden twice. And I will keep it near me for I believe I shall read it a third time and a fourth.
You may buy a copy here > The Hanging Garden by Patrick White : http://bit.ly/xmhoOy
October 22, 2023
A tasty treat from a masterful writer. Only recently realized that this "new" "novel" was published posthumously; it was especially delicious as an unexpected surprise.
"Viva did not have a limp, her shoe only caught rather often in the cracked pavement as she slommacked along."
So I learned a new word — slommacked! I had to look it up, but it is such a perfect word that the meaning is automatically conveyed.
Patrick White is also brilliant in his examination of "transcendence" (a character herein keeps looking up the meaning of the word), as well as his sharp skillful observations:
"She was one of those women who have been steamed rather than baked by the Sydney climate."
According to comments by White, this was about the first third of the intended novel. The typescript was prepared from a handwritten manuscript found in White's desk after his death.
This volume has an afterword by David Marr, who relates that White made great progress on this novel while his memoir, Flaws in the Glass First edition by White, Patrick (1982) Hardcover, was chugging its way through the publishing process, but then, once the "acerbic" memoir was published it became "the great best-seller of his career," and White was distracted and exhausted by the controversy.
White was never able to return to The Hanging Garden, and one can only speculate the direction and content of the invisible two-thirds. However, despite being "unfinished" this book feels complete, and as I said, masterful.
"Viva did not have a limp, her shoe only caught rather often in the cracked pavement as she slommacked along."
So I learned a new word — slommacked! I had to look it up, but it is such a perfect word that the meaning is automatically conveyed.
Patrick White is also brilliant in his examination of "transcendence" (a character herein keeps looking up the meaning of the word), as well as his sharp skillful observations:
"She was one of those women who have been steamed rather than baked by the Sydney climate."
According to comments by White, this was about the first third of the intended novel. The typescript was prepared from a handwritten manuscript found in White's desk after his death.
This volume has an afterword by David Marr, who relates that White made great progress on this novel while his memoir, Flaws in the Glass First edition by White, Patrick (1982) Hardcover, was chugging its way through the publishing process, but then, once the "acerbic" memoir was published it became "the great best-seller of his career," and White was distracted and exhausted by the controversy.
White was never able to return to The Hanging Garden, and one can only speculate the direction and content of the invisible two-thirds. However, despite being "unfinished" this book feels complete, and as I said, masterful.
November 13, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 11, 2019
I don't usually read books that were not completed by their author, but I was given to understand that Patrick White's final incomplete novel was worth reading, and ended as part one of a longer novel. It certainly had that feel, but it left me wanting to know what happened to the two main characters, both children evacuated to Australia during the second world war. There are a few notes within the text indicating passages White wanted to expand upon, and some minor errors that have been left in, but this gives the reader a sense of sharing a work-in-progress (something I believe White would have hated!), although he had put it aside quite a while before he died.
June 6, 2015
If you love Patrick White (and I do) you will want to read this posthumous publication of an unfinished work by the great novelist. The 215 pages of this work actually represents only the first part of a projected three-part novel which unfortunately was not completed, owing to other pressing social, political and theatrical work in which White was preoccupied with at the end of his life. This is a draft of that first third of his book, something he had written comparatively quickly, and with which he admitted to friends he was generally pleased.
The setting is WWII, but set in Australia. As usual, his two main protagonists have developed special insights peculiar to themselves (see also my review of Happy Valley). Irene Sklavos is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Greek father, a Communist who has been executed in a Greek prison. Her mother needs to return to continue the struggle in Greece. Gilbert Horsfall’s father is a Colonel, fighting in the war. During the Blitz on London, Gilbert’s mother and his best friend Nigel are killed. As was common at that time, these ‘orphaned’ children were despatched to the care of foster parents in far-away Sydney, where it was hoped they would be safe from what was happening in Europe. When the two children meet, despite their differences, they recognise a common affinity to special awareness…
This first part of the projected novel concentrates on the two children, particularly Irene, and how they cope with the people in the new country they have been sent to, their different schooling, and the acquaintances they are more or less forced to make. Both are aware of the Australians cultural ‘differences’ they need to deal with, and this contributes to their budding common awareness and special friendship. As time passes, Irene seems apparently more self-possessed and self-aware; but Gilbert increasingly appears to need to deny his internal reality and mimic instead what he considers to be his uncouth Australian school companions, at least in his external actions. This first part ends with the announcement of the end of the War, and the presumption is that the two children will be more completely physically separated than they already are, and perhaps forever.
What White might have had in mind for the remaining two parts of the novel are anyone’s guess: the only clue appears to be that he intended the relationship between Irene and Gilbert to continue for at least 36 years, and probably to find them back together in Sydney in 1981 — but speculation is pointless. It doesn’t matter, really, although what White might have come up with is tantalising, especially for someone who has read and relished his other work. This first part draft still resonates with White’s concerns and preoccupations, and his writing, even in draft form, is as powerful, moving, and observant as in his other works.
This book has been transcribed unedited from White’s handwritten manuscript. Whether White would have retained this first part as it now stands is a moot point: what we have, instead, is something unique: an unprecedented insight into the workings of a great novelist.
The setting is WWII, but set in Australia. As usual, his two main protagonists have developed special insights peculiar to themselves (see also my review of Happy Valley). Irene Sklavos is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Greek father, a Communist who has been executed in a Greek prison. Her mother needs to return to continue the struggle in Greece. Gilbert Horsfall’s father is a Colonel, fighting in the war. During the Blitz on London, Gilbert’s mother and his best friend Nigel are killed. As was common at that time, these ‘orphaned’ children were despatched to the care of foster parents in far-away Sydney, where it was hoped they would be safe from what was happening in Europe. When the two children meet, despite their differences, they recognise a common affinity to special awareness…
This first part of the projected novel concentrates on the two children, particularly Irene, and how they cope with the people in the new country they have been sent to, their different schooling, and the acquaintances they are more or less forced to make. Both are aware of the Australians cultural ‘differences’ they need to deal with, and this contributes to their budding common awareness and special friendship. As time passes, Irene seems apparently more self-possessed and self-aware; but Gilbert increasingly appears to need to deny his internal reality and mimic instead what he considers to be his uncouth Australian school companions, at least in his external actions. This first part ends with the announcement of the end of the War, and the presumption is that the two children will be more completely physically separated than they already are, and perhaps forever.
What White might have had in mind for the remaining two parts of the novel are anyone’s guess: the only clue appears to be that he intended the relationship between Irene and Gilbert to continue for at least 36 years, and probably to find them back together in Sydney in 1981 — but speculation is pointless. It doesn’t matter, really, although what White might have come up with is tantalising, especially for someone who has read and relished his other work. This first part draft still resonates with White’s concerns and preoccupations, and his writing, even in draft form, is as powerful, moving, and observant as in his other works.
This book has been transcribed unedited from White’s handwritten manuscript. Whether White would have retained this first part as it now stands is a moot point: what we have, instead, is something unique: an unprecedented insight into the workings of a great novelist.
October 10, 2015
For some time now I've been wanting to take on Patrick White, one of the 20th century's most disgracefully under-read major novelists, but have found his style somewhat intimidating. I did read a collection of his short stories called 'The Cockatoos' several years ago, and enjoyed it very much, but wasn't at all sure how I could handle him over a longer and more convoluted narrative. Then I came across 'The Hanging Garden', and it seemed like the perfect solution.
In 1942, with the world in turmoil, two children – Eirene Sklavos, the daughter of an Australian mother and murdered Greek father, and Gilbert Horsfall, whose mother has been killed in the London Blitz and whose father, a colonel, is away at war – are sent as refugees into the care of the alcoholic Mrs. Bulpit. Over the coming years, they are forced to adapt to a new way of life, learning to become Australian, bearing all sorts of misfortune, falling a little bit in love, and bearing up against the sorrow of separation.
As this coming-of-age tale is only a third of what White had intended the entire novel to be, it's inevitable that it should seem to fall short of greatness. Yet the section that does survive, being neatly self-contained (and in no way a first draft), certainly gives ample evidence of his prodigious talent. It is beautifully written, sad and lovely, complex in its winding sentences and frequent unannounced shifts in (first-, second- and third-person) perspectives while still remaining eminently readable, and extraordinarily vivid in its depictions and quietly devastating in its manipulation of the emotions.
Ultimately, 'The Hanging Garden' has given me exactly what I'd hoped for: a fine, absorbing and challenging read, and the impetus now to take on some of his bigger and more polished works (I have on my shelves copies of 'the Solid Mandala' and 'The Aunt's Story' and am determined to get to one or the other of them before the year's end).
In 1942, with the world in turmoil, two children – Eirene Sklavos, the daughter of an Australian mother and murdered Greek father, and Gilbert Horsfall, whose mother has been killed in the London Blitz and whose father, a colonel, is away at war – are sent as refugees into the care of the alcoholic Mrs. Bulpit. Over the coming years, they are forced to adapt to a new way of life, learning to become Australian, bearing all sorts of misfortune, falling a little bit in love, and bearing up against the sorrow of separation.
As this coming-of-age tale is only a third of what White had intended the entire novel to be, it's inevitable that it should seem to fall short of greatness. Yet the section that does survive, being neatly self-contained (and in no way a first draft), certainly gives ample evidence of his prodigious talent. It is beautifully written, sad and lovely, complex in its winding sentences and frequent unannounced shifts in (first-, second- and third-person) perspectives while still remaining eminently readable, and extraordinarily vivid in its depictions and quietly devastating in its manipulation of the emotions.
Ultimately, 'The Hanging Garden' has given me exactly what I'd hoped for: a fine, absorbing and challenging read, and the impetus now to take on some of his bigger and more polished works (I have on my shelves copies of 'the Solid Mandala' and 'The Aunt's Story' and am determined to get to one or the other of them before the year's end).
April 27, 2012
Patrick White is a two time Miles Franklin award winner and has also won the Nobel prize for literature. His unfinished novel The Hanging Garden was recently published; it feels like an old novel in the sense that, while it’s nicely written; nothing ever happens in the book. This is very much a character driven book, focusing on the two and a wild garden. I think I’d be alright with reading a book like this if I didn’t have the feeling that the author hated every single one of his characters; he was mean and cruel to them all, not just the key characters. As a general rule I love dark and flawed characters but this just felt mean and even the attempts of trying to being erotic felt awkward. I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen and I was left disappointed. Also as this is an unfinished novel, I don’t know what the overall goal was with this book and I get the feeling that maybe Patrick White doesn’t either.
My review and thoughts on an unfinished novel can be found on my blog;
http://literary-exploration.com/2012/...
My review and thoughts on an unfinished novel can be found on my blog;
http://literary-exploration.com/2012/...
May 3, 2016
A mature, unfinished work by a great writer. Intellectually I could engage with interest, but reading it simply as a novel I felt dissatisfied and frustrated by the fog of verbal texture that obscured the unfolding of the narrative. This was clearly written by a mind that had become used to observing ever so closely, but perhaps at the expense of telling a good yarn.
The book has been published without editing in deference to White's death before the planned larger work was completed. It was compelling to imagine this as a manuscript coming straight from his pen, but I often found the syntax clunky and the sentences often required several readings in order to glean their meaning. I feel horribly guilty. I admire the author and his sensitivities enormously but I could not finish the book, because I felt the struggle was wasting my time. There is too much else to read.
The book has been published without editing in deference to White's death before the planned larger work was completed. It was compelling to imagine this as a manuscript coming straight from his pen, but I often found the syntax clunky and the sentences often required several readings in order to glean their meaning. I feel horribly guilty. I admire the author and his sensitivities enormously but I could not finish the book, because I felt the struggle was wasting my time. There is too much else to read.
November 15, 2013
A "mood painting" of sorts. We are in the thoughts and sensory experience of an orphaned girl brought to Australia in the middle of WWII. She stays in a foster home where the only other child is an orphaned boy her age from England. The novel does something interesting with point of view: first, second and third person are used and sometimes fluidly run together. The girl is an alien--half Australian, half Greek--who feels alone, ignored, without compass and meaning in this strange new world. Her interior life is what's important and she keeps it treasured and hidden. White describes things elliptically, using language in a painterly way. It's like a tone poem. He died before he could finish the book, though the ending works by itself. He takes seriously his main character's thoughts and feelings; in fact, this is the reason for the book. The effect is like sunlight coming into a white room.
May 23, 2012
Not quite a recovered masterpiece but a fascinating read nonetheless.
White was such a sure, material stylist & builder of psyche interiors that the sheer strength of his 'unhurried prose' leaves a tremendous impact.
I can't pretend that I don't feel sad for what the novel would have been if White had returned to it & performed another draft or two but I'm also grateful for this glimpse into the vastness of his storytelling.
January 21, 2016
I would give this book 3.5 stars. I think it's important to know that this book is an unfinished manuscript before you begin. Because it is unedited, it can be difficult to follow and not all of the plot points are fleshed out. Even so, I think this book offers a unique look into life during WW2. I enjoyed the story, especially the last 20 pages give or take.
January 2, 2025
i love patrick white .. but only when its in the 20th C .. and ideally in sydney .. like this
July 11, 2012
‘Nobody is wholly responsible for what they are.’
Set during World War II in Sydney, the novel explores the world of two children: Eirene Sklavos and Gilbert Horsfall. Eirene is the daughter of an Australian woman, and a Greek communist who has been murdered in prison. Gilbert (Gil) is English: his father is an officer in India, his mother killed by a bomb during the Blitz in London. Gil and Eirene are thrown together in Essie Bulpit’s ramshackle home on Neutral Bay, with its large, lush, neglected garden.
The garden is not a paradise, it is a refuge. While Gil and Eirene have enough room to each be alone, they are drawn together. The garden, with its lantana and gums, vines and pittosporum, looking out over Sydney Harbour, provides both a safe place and some common ground away from the culturally dangerous public worlds of society and school. Gil and Eirene become closer, and are largely at ease with each other in the garden where adults and other children do not intrude with their expectations and rules.
‘Any conversation they might have had was buried inside him.’
Gil and Eirene are parted: the war may largely be distant from Sydney, but death is not. And, as Gil and Eirene move to live their separate new lives, I found myself less caught up in the story and more curious about where Patrick White intended to take it. What did the future hold for Gil and Eirene, and what twists and turns would have been involved in their journeys? Would they be reunited? Who will they become?
‘Is this where we belong then?’
While ‘The Hanging Garden’ is unfinished, this part is not incomplete. I might wonder about what the future holds for Gil and Eirene, but the world depicted in the novel, with the circumscribed worlds inhabited by a number of the characters is finely drawn. They are memorable, some of these characters: the blowsy Essie Bulpit; Eirene’s Aunt Ally and her husband Harold; and some of the school teachers – Mr Harbord and Miss Hammersley.
‘The Hanging Garden’ is the first part of a novel found amongst Patrick White’s papers after his death in September 1990. From David Marr’s note at the end of the novel, we learn that the draft was written in blue biro by Patrick White on quires of foolscap paper, and that the final novel was intended to be in three parts. Illness, age and the demands of public life each played a part in preventing completion. The incomplete novel, transcribed from Patrick White’s handwritten draft, has been published this year - to mark the centenary of White’s birth.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Set during World War II in Sydney, the novel explores the world of two children: Eirene Sklavos and Gilbert Horsfall. Eirene is the daughter of an Australian woman, and a Greek communist who has been murdered in prison. Gilbert (Gil) is English: his father is an officer in India, his mother killed by a bomb during the Blitz in London. Gil and Eirene are thrown together in Essie Bulpit’s ramshackle home on Neutral Bay, with its large, lush, neglected garden.
The garden is not a paradise, it is a refuge. While Gil and Eirene have enough room to each be alone, they are drawn together. The garden, with its lantana and gums, vines and pittosporum, looking out over Sydney Harbour, provides both a safe place and some common ground away from the culturally dangerous public worlds of society and school. Gil and Eirene become closer, and are largely at ease with each other in the garden where adults and other children do not intrude with their expectations and rules.
‘Any conversation they might have had was buried inside him.’
Gil and Eirene are parted: the war may largely be distant from Sydney, but death is not. And, as Gil and Eirene move to live their separate new lives, I found myself less caught up in the story and more curious about where Patrick White intended to take it. What did the future hold for Gil and Eirene, and what twists and turns would have been involved in their journeys? Would they be reunited? Who will they become?
‘Is this where we belong then?’
While ‘The Hanging Garden’ is unfinished, this part is not incomplete. I might wonder about what the future holds for Gil and Eirene, but the world depicted in the novel, with the circumscribed worlds inhabited by a number of the characters is finely drawn. They are memorable, some of these characters: the blowsy Essie Bulpit; Eirene’s Aunt Ally and her husband Harold; and some of the school teachers – Mr Harbord and Miss Hammersley.
‘The Hanging Garden’ is the first part of a novel found amongst Patrick White’s papers after his death in September 1990. From David Marr’s note at the end of the novel, we learn that the draft was written in blue biro by Patrick White on quires of foolscap paper, and that the final novel was intended to be in three parts. Illness, age and the demands of public life each played a part in preventing completion. The incomplete novel, transcribed from Patrick White’s handwritten draft, has been published this year - to mark the centenary of White’s birth.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 3, 2012
I felt ambivalent about purchasing this book. Before his death, White had wanted it destroyed, and it seems unethical that his agent would subsequently allow it to be published. But in spite of the novel being only a fragment and published against the author’s wishes, I loved it.
The novel is set in the Second World War. Two children, Eirene Sklavos and Gilbert Horsfall, have been evacuated from Greece and London respectively. They have been billeted with Mrs Bulpit, a widowed Englishwoman who lives in a house with the hanging garden of the book’s title, in Mosman (a suburb on Sydney’s northern harbourside). The children form an unlikely friendship, and in creating this relationship White established beautifully the small perceptions and deceptions, the distinctions as to what can be shared and what cannot.
I only wish White had had time to complete the book so that the reader would understand what his bigger vision might entail.
The novel has the usual profound insights, lyrical writing – and occasional unkindnesses - that characterize all White’s earlier work.
The novel is set in the Second World War. Two children, Eirene Sklavos and Gilbert Horsfall, have been evacuated from Greece and London respectively. They have been billeted with Mrs Bulpit, a widowed Englishwoman who lives in a house with the hanging garden of the book’s title, in Mosman (a suburb on Sydney’s northern harbourside). The children form an unlikely friendship, and in creating this relationship White established beautifully the small perceptions and deceptions, the distinctions as to what can be shared and what cannot.
I only wish White had had time to complete the book so that the reader would understand what his bigger vision might entail.
The novel has the usual profound insights, lyrical writing – and occasional unkindnesses - that characterize all White’s earlier work.
October 6, 2013
This book was an okay read. I knew before I started, that the book was unfinished due to the author's death. It is about 2 children that are taken in by a widow during WWII. While staying in Australia at this time, they develop a strong bond that they will maintain for many years, possibly always.
The story was a bit confusing and not easy to follow. The author would sometime refer to adults by The and then their last name. Then it would switch to "you" which I assumed was referring to Eirene. The writing is lyrical but just flips around so much from character to character. Overall the story seemed dark and sad. I just felt I had to finish reading it, since I had won a copy and was entitled to write a review. Otherwise, I may have left this book unfinished.
I received a copy from Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a review.
The story was a bit confusing and not easy to follow. The author would sometime refer to adults by The and then their last name. Then it would switch to "you" which I assumed was referring to Eirene. The writing is lyrical but just flips around so much from character to character. Overall the story seemed dark and sad. I just felt I had to finish reading it, since I had won a copy and was entitled to write a review. Otherwise, I may have left this book unfinished.
I received a copy from Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a review.
June 11, 2017
A well written unfinished novel, posthumously published in 2012, 22 years after White's death. Patrick White's last attempt at writing a novel when he was 69 years of age. A recommended read for Patrick White fans, who should not be disappointed. The story of two unrelated young children, Irene and Gil, removed from the war in Europe in 1939 for safety reasons, (a common practise where European families had relatives in countries far from the war), find themselves living with relations in Sydney, Australia. The story follows their experiences over the period 1939 to 1945, making friends and living with their relations. The story is complete in itself. It is surmised that White had completed a third of the novel and was to explore the lives of Irene and Gil after 1945.
July 6, 2019
Oh, my goodness, why was this book ever published? I don't care that the author is dead, nor do I care that he is a two time Miles Franklin winner as well as having won the Nobel Prize for Literature, this was a woeful read. At the halfway mark I finally gave up. It's not often that a book beats me, but trying to struggle through the second half was more than I could endure. Life is just too short!! The writing was all over the place, the characters totally depressing and the plot . . . what plot? Ugh!
February 8, 2015
Scritto in maniera curata, di un livello superiore rispetto ai romanzi commerciali. Il finale lascia in sospeso, vorresti sapere cosa succede dopo...
July 20, 2013
Perhaps the title to Patrick White’s The Hanging Garden prepared me to experience the novel as a more sophisticated version of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. Although I do not know if White intended his story of the bond that develops between two contrary children to recall the twentieth-century children’s classic, the parallels are undeniable.
One of Eirene Sklavos’ parents died in prison; the other leaves her in a foster home in order to dedicate herself to supporting the war effort. Although Eirene’s mother has trained as a nurse, it is clear that her motives are far from selfless. At any rate, Eirene has clearly been neglected prior to the novel’s opening as the adults who surround her are preoccupied with worldly interests, despite the fact that their communist ideology really ought to reinforce a concern with all the people in a community, including the young ones.
Here, White appears to demonstrate the manner in which the ideals of political commitment seldom extend to everyone. That Eirene’s parents are just as shallow as Mary Lennox’s suggests that communists really are no better than colonialists at putting their children’s interests above politics. Eirene has developed into a withdrawn, but stoic child, who does not give into tears even when grown ups expect a normal, feeling child to do so.
The male protagonist, Gilbert Horsfall, is no invalid like Burnett’s Colin Craven, though he overhears adults speculating on his potential for an undefined form of degeneration; nor is Gilbert a Dickon Sowerby, though much of his relationship with Eirene depends on their mutual desire to possess place, more specifically the garden of White’s title. The treehouse the two children build together becomes a sanctuary that allows them to forge a bond that distances them from the pettiness and neediness that surrounds them.
Although The Hanging Garden remained unfinished at the time of its author’s death, the small volume reads like a novella. I would have liked to continue to eavesdrop on these characters’ psyches as they developed into adults if only to see whether they managed to maintain their unified separateness. Would Eirene and Gilbert turn out to be just as flawed as their adult anti-role models? Or would they be able to support each other’s resistance to worldly expectations?
I do not feel dissatisfied with not knowing the answers to these questions. Some novels do end with characters teetering on a verge. That White did not return to complete this story in the ten years between its drafting and his demise, despite his initial plans to do so, may suggest that he intuitively (if not consciously) recognized that Eirene's and Gilbert’s story (like many a Romantic tale) is complete in its fragmentation. After all, the plot transpires during war time.
I recommend this book to readers who can appreciate writing in itself. White's descriptions are often brilliant. Example: "Her face never looked more like a sweet apple, but one . . . that had bones in it you'd find if you tried biting into the flesh" (196). Those who are more concerned with plot than with character development are likely to feel dissatisfied.
I am grateful to First Reads for providing my Advanced Reader’s Copy.
One of Eirene Sklavos’ parents died in prison; the other leaves her in a foster home in order to dedicate herself to supporting the war effort. Although Eirene’s mother has trained as a nurse, it is clear that her motives are far from selfless. At any rate, Eirene has clearly been neglected prior to the novel’s opening as the adults who surround her are preoccupied with worldly interests, despite the fact that their communist ideology really ought to reinforce a concern with all the people in a community, including the young ones.
Here, White appears to demonstrate the manner in which the ideals of political commitment seldom extend to everyone. That Eirene’s parents are just as shallow as Mary Lennox’s suggests that communists really are no better than colonialists at putting their children’s interests above politics. Eirene has developed into a withdrawn, but stoic child, who does not give into tears even when grown ups expect a normal, feeling child to do so.
The male protagonist, Gilbert Horsfall, is no invalid like Burnett’s Colin Craven, though he overhears adults speculating on his potential for an undefined form of degeneration; nor is Gilbert a Dickon Sowerby, though much of his relationship with Eirene depends on their mutual desire to possess place, more specifically the garden of White’s title. The treehouse the two children build together becomes a sanctuary that allows them to forge a bond that distances them from the pettiness and neediness that surrounds them.
Although The Hanging Garden remained unfinished at the time of its author’s death, the small volume reads like a novella. I would have liked to continue to eavesdrop on these characters’ psyches as they developed into adults if only to see whether they managed to maintain their unified separateness. Would Eirene and Gilbert turn out to be just as flawed as their adult anti-role models? Or would they be able to support each other’s resistance to worldly expectations?
I do not feel dissatisfied with not knowing the answers to these questions. Some novels do end with characters teetering on a verge. That White did not return to complete this story in the ten years between its drafting and his demise, despite his initial plans to do so, may suggest that he intuitively (if not consciously) recognized that Eirene's and Gilbert’s story (like many a Romantic tale) is complete in its fragmentation. After all, the plot transpires during war time.
I recommend this book to readers who can appreciate writing in itself. White's descriptions are often brilliant. Example: "Her face never looked more like a sweet apple, but one . . . that had bones in it you'd find if you tried biting into the flesh" (196). Those who are more concerned with plot than with character development are likely to feel dissatisfied.
I am grateful to First Reads for providing my Advanced Reader’s Copy.
April 21, 2015
This novel casts a spell. The author, Patrick White, won the Nobel Prize in Literature for "The Eye of the Storm" (which I haven't read) in 1973. I had it on my to-read pile - I don't remember where I got it or why I chose it. The book is unfinished, as stated at the beginning: The Hanging Garden has been transcribed from Patrick White's handwritten manuscript and, in the absence of a living author to consult, not edited.
Set in 1942, it's the story of two young teenagers, Eirene and Gilbert, who have been separately deposited in an old woman's house in Australia to escape the perils of WWII. She's from Greece; he's from London. The writing is impressionistic - some scenes are blurred, evocative, while others are more narrative. It switches from first to second person. Not having read any of White's other books, I don't know whether that is typical of his work. I do know that it's spellbinding, and powerful, and I wish I knew more of what happens to Eirene and Gilbert. This part does stand by itself, however.
Some favorite passages:
-- "In the street he was walking down lined with big fuschias, tree fuschias, it was already oily dark. The deep blue sky had begun prickling slightly with stars." (p. 118)
-- "The invite is issued on one of those evenings of early winter when a razor is running its edge over the skins exposed to it, and every bay round this almost landlocked harbour is roughed into leaden waves." (p. 207)
Set in 1942, it's the story of two young teenagers, Eirene and Gilbert, who have been separately deposited in an old woman's house in Australia to escape the perils of WWII. She's from Greece; he's from London. The writing is impressionistic - some scenes are blurred, evocative, while others are more narrative. It switches from first to second person. Not having read any of White's other books, I don't know whether that is typical of his work. I do know that it's spellbinding, and powerful, and I wish I knew more of what happens to Eirene and Gilbert. This part does stand by itself, however.
Some favorite passages:
-- "In the street he was walking down lined with big fuschias, tree fuschias, it was already oily dark. The deep blue sky had begun prickling slightly with stars." (p. 118)
-- "The invite is issued on one of those evenings of early winter when a razor is running its edge over the skins exposed to it, and every bay round this almost landlocked harbour is roughed into leaden waves." (p. 207)
June 1, 2012
An incomplete work of genius. A quintessentially Australian story, two young children from England and Greece respectively are sent to the outback of Australia to escape WW11. In the care (or lack thereof) of Mrs. Essie Bulpit, the children, Gil & Eirene, become close friends and allies against this strange new world they inhabit. The story is told largely by Eirene and details the slow but steady erosion of her Greek cultural identity and heritage by an ignorant Australian population who are nevertheless trying to help. Eirene's refugee status is pitiful - the daughter of an Australian woman and her Greek husband/lover (?) who has been brought up in Greece, she is caught between 2 worlds and there is little understanding to be had here in Australia, supposedly a place of safety, a sanctuary.
A lost manuscript by White published posthumously, it is a difficult read with little conclusion to satisfy the reader. But a beautiful example of how White worked at his manuscripts. So much of his characteristic voice is echoed here, if not polished enough to be a strong example. Worth the read, particularly for fans of White. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could but don't believe I can accurately give it 4 stars. A brilliant work-in-progress, but unfortunately just that - a work-in-progress.
A lost manuscript by White published posthumously, it is a difficult read with little conclusion to satisfy the reader. But a beautiful example of how White worked at his manuscripts. So much of his characteristic voice is echoed here, if not polished enough to be a strong example. Worth the read, particularly for fans of White. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could but don't believe I can accurately give it 4 stars. A brilliant work-in-progress, but unfortunately just that - a work-in-progress.
June 28, 2012
It's hard to rate this book because it is unfinished. Patrick White had completed the first part of a novel not long before he died in 1990. It has now been published twelve years after his death.
We don't know what White planned to do with his characters, his main characters, a boy and a girl who are left in Australia, orphaned by the Second World War. In a world of strangers they form a bond that we presume would have been worked out as the novel progressed and the characters grew into adulthood.
The story we have is complete enough and satisfying in itself vibrating with questions and possibilities for the future, much as a reader might feel with a short story. For those interested in the way White wrote, this book is instructive. We see sentences tried, images explored, but left a bit rough, open and fresh. Certainly we have the sense of White as a whole; we hear once more his poetic voice, we hear his biting tongue, his pessimistic view of many humans, his loathing of pretension which is sometimes heavy-handed. What I value most is White's serious and sensual vision as he explores deep connections between those, usually 'outsiders', who sometimes find soulmates who share their feelings about the world, and, in this work, the way those souls are nourished by the beauty of lush nature.
We don't know what White planned to do with his characters, his main characters, a boy and a girl who are left in Australia, orphaned by the Second World War. In a world of strangers they form a bond that we presume would have been worked out as the novel progressed and the characters grew into adulthood.
The story we have is complete enough and satisfying in itself vibrating with questions and possibilities for the future, much as a reader might feel with a short story. For those interested in the way White wrote, this book is instructive. We see sentences tried, images explored, but left a bit rough, open and fresh. Certainly we have the sense of White as a whole; we hear once more his poetic voice, we hear his biting tongue, his pessimistic view of many humans, his loathing of pretension which is sometimes heavy-handed. What I value most is White's serious and sensual vision as he explores deep connections between those, usually 'outsiders', who sometimes find soulmates who share their feelings about the world, and, in this work, the way those souls are nourished by the beauty of lush nature.
July 23, 2012
Patrick White was an Australian author widely regarded as one of the most important English-language novelists of the 20th century. The Hanging Garden published posthumously is lucky to have made it into our reading lists since White wanted to destroy it.
Two children were evacuated from Greece and London during WWII and billeted with a widowed Englishwoman who lived in a house with the hanging garden in Mosman on Sydney's northern beaches. While this might conjure up images of a blessed sanctuary as the world crumbles, it is far from it. The garden is not paradise, and the Mosman ramshackle house in no way resembles Mosman of today, a premier suburb in Sydney.
The children become friends, as you might expect, but are eventually separated and as the novel was never finished by White, we're left to wonder about their fates and whether they ever reunited.
I personally very much enjoy dark stories with complex, troubled characters, and The Hanging Garden delivers on that and is true to White's earlier work.
I so wish it had been finished - The Hanging Garden leaves you a little unsatisfied; a dark and tragic ending is really better than no ending at all even when it allows you to create the ending you want.
Two children were evacuated from Greece and London during WWII and billeted with a widowed Englishwoman who lived in a house with the hanging garden in Mosman on Sydney's northern beaches. While this might conjure up images of a blessed sanctuary as the world crumbles, it is far from it. The garden is not paradise, and the Mosman ramshackle house in no way resembles Mosman of today, a premier suburb in Sydney.
The children become friends, as you might expect, but are eventually separated and as the novel was never finished by White, we're left to wonder about their fates and whether they ever reunited.
I personally very much enjoy dark stories with complex, troubled characters, and The Hanging Garden delivers on that and is true to White's earlier work.
I so wish it had been finished - The Hanging Garden leaves you a little unsatisfied; a dark and tragic ending is really better than no ending at all even when it allows you to create the ending you want.
June 3, 2013
One of the best books I've read in a long time!
This is the story of a young girl (Eirene Sklavos) who is trying to discover who she is in a huge upside down world of war. She is paternally Greek descent and maternally Australian. Her father dies in prison as a communist during WWII and her mother moves her back to Australia where an estranged sister lives (Aunt Allyson Lockhart), but the sister doesn't want this responsibility, so Eirene's mother Gerry, pawns this child off on an elder Mrs. Bulpit while the child's mother has decided to return to Greece to fight for a cause. There is a boy in Mrs. Bulpit's charge as well, Gilbert (Gil) Horsfall, whom Eirene becomes enamored with. They part company and I would have liked to know where the story of these two would have gone, had Mr. White lived to write more about them. The story is captivating and you become convinced this girl is a phenomenal young lady, however, she doesn't think much of herself in this regard. She sees herself as something less than scum. Breathtaking beauty of a girl, so wise beyond her years. I wish I could tell her, "You are every bit as much, if not, then more so!"
This is the story of a young girl (Eirene Sklavos) who is trying to discover who she is in a huge upside down world of war. She is paternally Greek descent and maternally Australian. Her father dies in prison as a communist during WWII and her mother moves her back to Australia where an estranged sister lives (Aunt Allyson Lockhart), but the sister doesn't want this responsibility, so Eirene's mother Gerry, pawns this child off on an elder Mrs. Bulpit while the child's mother has decided to return to Greece to fight for a cause. There is a boy in Mrs. Bulpit's charge as well, Gilbert (Gil) Horsfall, whom Eirene becomes enamored with. They part company and I would have liked to know where the story of these two would have gone, had Mr. White lived to write more about them. The story is captivating and you become convinced this girl is a phenomenal young lady, however, she doesn't think much of herself in this regard. She sees herself as something less than scum. Breathtaking beauty of a girl, so wise beyond her years. I wish I could tell her, "You are every bit as much, if not, then more so!"
December 3, 2019
Patrick White is without a doubt the greatest writer in the English language.
His books are not meant to be read just once, there is no way to understand the richness of his prose, the deep psychological insights and the gorgeousness of his images in one take. He is not a page-turning quick read, something to fill up empty time between airports; His writing is like a balm for the soul; a soothing, enriching life-affirming act of transcendence. sometimes I have read a single page two or three times because the beauty is too overwhelming to merely glance at- I have frequently put one of his books down and said aloud "God, he's a genius!"
The Hanging Garden is a rare insight into the unfinished world of his talent. His writing is usually so precise and organic, (like something produced by nature like a spider's web or plumage on a peacock) that to read something that has its frayed edges still visible is a real joy- It brings him into focus as someone most human-
I would not recommend that the uninitiated to start here; but for the completist it is a heartbreaking love story that will haunt you.
His books are not meant to be read just once, there is no way to understand the richness of his prose, the deep psychological insights and the gorgeousness of his images in one take. He is not a page-turning quick read, something to fill up empty time between airports; His writing is like a balm for the soul; a soothing, enriching life-affirming act of transcendence. sometimes I have read a single page two or three times because the beauty is too overwhelming to merely glance at- I have frequently put one of his books down and said aloud "God, he's a genius!"
The Hanging Garden is a rare insight into the unfinished world of his talent. His writing is usually so precise and organic, (like something produced by nature like a spider's web or plumage on a peacock) that to read something that has its frayed edges still visible is a real joy- It brings him into focus as someone most human-
I would not recommend that the uninitiated to start here; but for the completist it is a heartbreaking love story that will haunt you.
August 4, 2012
I've read other comments on this book and smile at the ones that take issue with how unsympathetic White is. For me, this is his great virtue. Too few contemporary writers (and readers) risk the discomfort he offers - what comfort there is lies in the prose, and even in this draft of an unfinished novel there are standout passages; the boy's journey to Australia, the girl's schooldays, the final passages where, in late adolescence, the pace accelerates and sets up the rest of the novel, which sadly doesn't come. If anything, the prolonged (for White) inhabiting of a child's consciousness makes this sketch one of his most sympathetic pieces. White's prose demands one slow down and work as a reader, adjust to his vision, come to him, as it were, and it can seem a big ask. The Hanging Garden doesn't reward the reader as much as The Vivisector or The Twyborn Affair or Voss, but it makes a good primer for his work, and a reminder how very good and unique a writer he was.
May 15, 2013
This writing.. is superb, mysterious, has shadows, takes you into the profound, erotic, unsettling, witty and reminiscent times of the characters within. This book is that like a diamond. It is still incased within the rough rock, unpolished and not cut or set it is unfinished and yet the amazing exquisite promise shines for all. The Hanging Garden is the unfinished work of a promising novel, much is not written and you have no ending to justify what you expect nevertheless you are fulfilled in knowing you had the privilege of what might never have been. Although many want and desire the ending, it is left open allowing your own mind, heart and spirit to ponder on what might have been.. The ending is yours to write in your own mind.
I won this book via goodreads and treasure the ability to know what never will be from this author.
I won this book via goodreads and treasure the ability to know what never will be from this author.
December 19, 2012
This is a book I read to satisfy an essay for a literature class that I ended up enjoying. However, I did not, at any rate, like the writing style. I hated that it kept switching around, view point-wise. It started driving me nuts early on, and if it hadn't been for the fact that I've planned on writing an essay on it, I probably would have put it down and never looked back.
But I'm glad I didn't. While things didn't quite turn out the way I was hoping in the end, it'll always be a mystery as to what Patrick White was intending for the characters and what would happen with Gil and Eirene (?). And that just leaves the whole thing up to one's imagination.
All in all, this was a great book. The writing style is the only reason I didn't give it 5-stars.
But I'm glad I didn't. While things didn't quite turn out the way I was hoping in the end, it'll always be a mystery as to what Patrick White was intending for the characters and what would happen with Gil and Eirene (?). And that just leaves the whole thing up to one's imagination.
All in all, this was a great book. The writing style is the only reason I didn't give it 5-stars.
November 23, 2013
What's it like to be a refugee as a child; to be "taken on" by those you barely know; to remember a rich culture incompletely, while living on the margins of - never quite belonging to - another, less fully developed one? Patrick White, a national literary treasure of Australia, never finished this novel, but what's here provides a quiet, even intimate exploration of the human condition through the eyes of two young children, growing up largely alone in uncertain times. The incomplete understanding of a child's limited frame of awareness mixes with the vagaries of displacement and the haze of times long past, poorly remembered, to weave a story that leaves you enchanted -- and wanting more.
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