A Change In The Lighting

by Amy Witting

Quando la vita di Ella cambia, è un giorno qualsiasi. Indossa un paio di pantofole morbide e la solita camicia da notte di seta. Come ogni mattina, osserva il marito Bernard mentre si fa il nodo della cravatta prima di andare in università. Sono gesti abitudinari, come il bacio sulla guancia che si scambiano per salutarsi. Ma questa volta Bernard le dà una notizia devastante: sta per lasciarla perché è innamorato di una collega più giovane. Il mondo perfetto di Ella crolla in un istante e, con esso, tutte le sue certezze: i figli, ormai, sono grandi e lei non ha mai lavorato. Il panico che l’attanaglia rischia di soffocarla. A poco a poco, però, si accorge che quella che le sembrava una tragedia è in realtà un’occasione per reagire all’apatia. Ella trova lavoro in una casa editrice dove conosce diversi aspiranti scrittori che coltivano come lei la passione per le storie e le parole. Il nuovo lavoro la stimola a porsi domande, essere curiosa, diventare migliore. Grazie ai suoi nuovi amici, Ella scopre che il suo matrimonio, forse, non era niente più che una stanca consuetudine e che non è mai troppo tardi per reinventarsi.
Grazie al successo della Lettrice testarda e della Signora delle storie, il pubblico e la stampa italiani hanno scoperto la voce indimenticabile della pluripremiata scrittrice australiana Amy Witting. Un’autrice che, con acume, è riuscita a raccontare l’emancipazione femminile. Il nuovo romanzo ci regala lo spaccato di vita di una protagonista in cui possiamo immedesimarci. Perché un fulmine a ciel sereno può capitare a chiunque. Basta non lasciarsi scoraggiare. La fine del mondo, in fondo, è solo l’inizio di un nuovo universo.

Genres: Australia

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Joan Austral Levick was born Joan Fraser in the Sydney suburb of Annandale in 1918. She studied at the University of Sydney and later taught French and English at state secondary schools. In 1948 she was transferred to Kempsey where she met Les Levick, a fellow teacher. They were married in December 1948. In 1953 Witting was diagnosed with TB after a routine school check, and it was while she was confined to the Bodington Sanitorium that she began to write more seriously. Witting has had numerous poems and short stories published in journals such as Quadrant and The New Yorker.

Witting was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 1990 for I for Isobel and again in 2000 for Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop. In 1993 she was awarded the Patrick White Prize.

Amy Witting died a few weeks after her last novel was published in September 2001.

Reviews

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about how a story is told, the mood the words set and language used. There is no action, no great surprises, just a book of beautifully crafted words.
Ella's world collapses when her husband of 30 years or so reveals he has been having an affair and wants a divorce. She now faces an uncertain future as she has been a traditional housewife and mother until now.
Her children provide support, then cracks appear in some of the relationships. A lesbian comes on the scene who may be tempting the younger daughter, or perhaps even Ella herself. But in the end the story is one thing, how it is written is the other and is the reason for reading this little gem.

[lyny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 1994, and tracks the reaction of the central character, Ella, to her husband’s unexpected announcement that he wants a divorce, and wants to be with his research assistant Louise. Ella seems more like a woman of the 50s than the 1990s – she doesn’t have a job (other than teaching English to one student) and seems to have been blind to her husband’s doings and emotions, and mainly focuses on and dwells on her relations with her family (and with one good female friend, Pam)– though she is a talented cook and rag rug maker. In some ways it is a quiet story, but it is very readable – and with scattered witty metaphoric comments and sentences that are amusing and make you go back and reread them. Seeing it from Ella’s perspective, you see her intelligence as well as her psychology.

[Jill Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only picked up this book because of the author and remembering how I had loved "I for Isobel" and "Isobel at the Corner Shop" , yet never heard of her again. First published in 1994, the republished Text Classic has also a very interesting introduction by Ashley Hay.
I found "A Change in the Lighting" engrossing. Ella, the abandoned wife and main character, became quite real to me - I found myself worrying about her as if she were a friend. The ups and downs, tantrums and exposed secrets of her family were also enjoyably convincing.
I will be returning to the Isobel books and looking for Witting's others.

[Anne Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sensitive and emotionally intelligent portrait of a woman whose husband leaves her for another woman. Ella, the middle aged protagonist, long term wife, mother of three grown children grapples with the devastation of abandonment while at the same time learning often painful, often encouraging lessons about herself, her children and what it is to be a woman alone. There isn’t much in the way of plot or action - it’s a “quiet” book - one which will appeal to those who love to read about life as it is.

[Barbaraw - su anobii aussi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Di Katherine Mansfield ha la scrittura ellittica, i cortocircuiti dalla frase da un personaggio all'altro, la suprema arte del non detto. ma le manca la sua grazia, la leggerezza e, soprattutto credo sia stata tradotta maluccio.
Al di là dei veri e propri errori di stampa, si percepisce una mancanza di scioltezza. Insomma, rileggiamola, ma curata meglio!

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

An immensely irritating book. Characters appear to just pop in with no introduction or explanation. On more than one occasion I found myself asking ‘Who the @#-% is Pam, or Enid?’ I was very glad to finish this boring and confusing narrative.

[Mairead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in the story, but Ella is really the only character in it

[A]

I always get sucked into this kind of book and then regret it.

[Sam Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gasped

[Text Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wry and powerful novel of family entanglements.’
Sydney Morning Herald

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a story about a middle-aged woman - Ella - whose husband calmly announces that he wants a divorce as he has a lover - and her journey through the separation and divorce. She had hitherto been the main support of the family - her husband as he pursued his academic life, her children - Caroline, David and Sophie - through their childhood and young adulthood, as well as being the chief homemaker and nurturer.
She discovers that her new situation opens up new views to her of events in the past and expands her mind to new opinions, all the while maintaining her principles.
I felt it was more like a play, would have been good acted out on stage, rather than a book. There was not enough depth for me - I wanted her to let loose. However Amy Whitting is no doubt writing from her own experience and I could imagine my mother behaving and having the same restrained behaviour and views as Ella did.

[Leeanne Thwaite · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's OK the story get a little more intresting towards the end.

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted her to become a lesbian ... but the most interesting thing that occurred was that she smashed a clock. A bit dull.

[Winston Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good factual story about the breakup of a marriage.