Curious Intimacy

by Jessica White

In the 1870s two remarkable women meet in a remote country town in Western Australia. Ingrid is hundreds of miles from home, trying to distance herself from a broken heart after her lover was forced to marry. Ellyn is a young woman living in stark isolation and driven close to madness by the death of her baby daughter. Ellyn's husband is away indefinitely, and she's had no word from him.

When the two women meet, they forge a bond that grows ever deeper. But can their intimacy find acceptance in their conventional world?

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Queer, Historical, Australia, LGBT, Adult

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jessica White was raised in the country in northwestern NSW and, at age 4, lost most of her hearing from a bout of meningitis. Being a determined little girl, she refused to be daunted by her disability, but instead made her way from a tiny school of 100 pupils to publishing her first novel at age 29, before graduating with a PhD from the University of London.

Jessica’s first novel, A Curious Intimacy, was published by Penguin in 2007, and won a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist award. Her second novel, Entitlement, was released by Penguin in September 2012.

Jessica currently works part-time as a research assistant in Brisbane, while writing her third novel and a book of creative non-fiction.

She can be found at www.jessicawhite.com.au

Reviews

[tee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no idea how this book even came to be in my possession but I was desperate for something easy to read and when I came across this, I thought i'd give it a go. I'm a total lit snob and had the intentions of not even rating this book, lest someone discover I had read such a terrible thing but it really wasn't that bad. Maybe this was because it was exactly what I felt like reading. There was an abundance of things in it that would probably usually annoy me, lack of depth, wooden writing style, awkward dialogue but it still managed to flow well. I wanted to know what happened and I kept turning the pages and it wasn't so bad that I wanted to give up.

The only thing that really bothered me was the portrayal of the Aboriginals in the story; just because it was how white settlers viewed them back then, it doesn't mean that an author can't challenge this. They were still people of equal rights, of depth and character and deserving of a storyline that doesn't reduce them to being servants and ferocious "natives" with nothing worth saying. If the author was willing to write of the then taboo lesbian liaisons and of independent women - then surely she could've resisted stereotyping Aboriginal people.

The things I liked? I loved that it was set in Australia and I actually really enjoyed that the author involved so much of Australia's flora. I liked that Ingrid travelled the country to collect specimens and that she illustrated these. I loved that she was an independent woman (though it's a pity that all the straight women were painted as being submissive and it was only the lesbian that was ballsy enough to challenge things). I liked that White managed to touch on the theme of the strength of bonds between women. I liked Ingrid's father. The story travelled along at a nice pace and I don't know, it was an easy, pleasant enough read and a really welcome change from the tougher books I've been trying to plough through.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. It is so rare to find any LGBT historical fiction, let alone set in Australia. As someone who has grown up around plants my entire life, the details about wildflowers and the like just added another layer of realism. My only complaint is that I feel the ending could have been more complete.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful read with some beautiful images of native Australian flora. I was transported to late 18 century Western Australia ... I love when this happen!

[Sally906 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A CURIOUS INTIMACY is Jessica White’s first novel; it won the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Novelist for 2008 award. It is a gentle read that meanders along taking the reader with it; in fact I found it to be almost ethereal in its feeling at times. Ingrid is wealthy, and a very strong character, pedantic to the nth degree, she is unusual for women of that time because she is very independent, and the story opens after she has travelled thousands of kilometres alone in the Australian outback researching and collecting flowers. She has a close relationship with her father who brought her up as he would a son. The love of Ingrid’s life, Helen, betrayed Ingrid by choosing to bow to convention and marry a man she didn’t love rather than live openly with Ingrid. After she injures her foot Ingrid seeks shelter and meets up with Ellyn, who is all alone and maddened with grief after the death of her child. Ellyn’s husband is away and has been for a long time. Ellyn hates the bush – the complete opposite to Ingrid who is at one with it. Ingrid is drawn to Ellyn and becomes jealous of Ellyn’s love for her absent husband, a love that seems to hint of being very idealistic, more of a love of being in love. Then the husband returns and the reader is now prepared for there to be some interesting events ahead. There are a few interesting subplots brought out – the difficulties of communication using the 18th century mail service, when does a deep friendship cross a line, what resources women had to protect themselves from people they should be able to trust, dealing with life in a small town that turns it back on some things but openly gossips and condemns on other less important events. The relationship between the two women was very realistic, as too the way men assumed that a single female in a small town as a potential mate and be thankful for their attentions! I did find A CURIOUS INTIMACY to be beautifully written for the most, but a few problems with the flow at times, and the conversations were a bit wooden and forced. I also have to confess that I was a little lost by the final page as to what actually happened, I think I know but maybe I took it the wrong way. Jessica White has written another fiction book ‘ Entitlement’ which I shall be seeking out in due course.

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story line about a botanist in the 1870s who finds love near Busselton, WA. Both the botanist and the lover are women.

The description of how the settlers, in battling desert and drought and isolation, still hung to the traditions and values of England was the most interesting part of the story to me, as well as making me think about what it meant to be "different" in those days.

[Oz. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting.

[Carol Gaston · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. The characters were well formed and quite realistic. Would have liked it more if it had not prolonged the story in the way it did.