Radiance

by Louis Nowra

Cressy, Mae and Nona are half sisters with little in common bar the ghosts from their childhood. They come together for their mother's funeral with the tropical Queensland landscape a spectacular backdrop for their turbulent and often humourous reunion. As the sisters struggle to find common ground they discover a bond that is stronger that the pain of their history. This edition includes the stageplay and the screenplay, as well as an introduction by the author detailing the transition between the two. Also included are stills from the play and the AFI-award-winning film. Told with passion, humour and warmth, this bittersweet story burns a colourful and mysterious imprint on the mind's eye. (2 acts, 3 women).

Genres: Plays, Drama, Australia

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Louis Nowra (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. His most significant plays are Così, Byzantine Flowers, Summer of the Aliens, Radiance, and The Golden Age. In 2007 he completed the The Boyce Trilogy for Griffin Theatre Company, consisting of The Woman with Dog's Eyes, The Marvellous Boy and The Emperor of Sydney. Many of his plays have been filmed.[1]
He was born as Mark Doyle in Melbourne. He changed his name to Louis Nowra in the early 1970s. He studied at Melbourne's La Trobe University without earning a degree. In his memoir, The Twelfth of Never, Nowra claimed that he left the course due to a conflict with his professor on Patrick White's The Tree of Man. He worked in several jobs and lived an itinerant lifestyle until the mid-1970s when his plays began to attract attention.
His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, The Widows and the five part The Divine Hammer aired on the ABC in 2003.[2]
In March 2007, Nowra published a controversial book on violence in Aboriginal communities, Bad Dreaming.
Nowra has been studied extensively in Veronica Kelly's work The Theatre of Louis Nowra.
He resides in Sydney with his wife, author Mandy Sayer.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[pantea]

read for class — interesting and important story but honestly, could’ve been done better

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for our English class.

It’s quite cringe worthy yet very intriguing

[Nanditha · Rating 3 out of 5]

good god. 3.5 stars.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

We had to read this in high school for my English class. I didn't really like it. It irritated me how unnecessary certain scenes were.. such as the pubic hair plucking and flashing the priest? I'm not a literary prude - in fact I love erotica but this just had no context. I also didn't appreciate the characters. I know this story had a message but honestly it got lost in all the things I didn't like about this book.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a required text for me for uni, so logically I didn't read this with much enthusiasm. I did try hard though, but although the play is short, it's not very sweet and it's much hoohah about nothing. The women didn't need to be Indigenous Australians - they could be three women from anywhere really. Same things happen to all people. I can see why the literati admire it, but it'd be a big whoopee do for most other readers, I think.

[Chernyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was funny at times, but mostly I found the language quite offensive. And I found the characters very unlikable, especially Cressy. She absolutely frustrates me because of her childish way of thinking. The storyline was also not very interesting, and the ending was just left hanging, which I didn't like as well.

[Edmund]

This book captures the lives of an Indigenous Australian family coming to terms with secrets and lies.

[Tara Ballantyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting play. Bit full on in places, but a great look at family.

[Sam Schroder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it.