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Ada
It's not every day a handsome young man appears onyour doorstep to ask if you're a respectable woman...' Miss Ada Delroy and her famous vaudeville troupe stormed five continents, enchanting royalty, miners and larrikins alike with her wit, illusions, and breathtaking dances. 'I had a diamond pendant near as big as an emu egg off the Maharajah of What's-His-Name. They named a racehorse after me, and a pigeon and a potato soup on an Orient steamship.' Under the costume made from 100 yards of billowing silk was a woman who couldn't help being both fabulous and disreputable. Down on her luck in a rented room in Melbourne, morphia cocktail in hand, Ada receives a visitor. Is she ready to share her secrets? Inspired by photos of real 1890s vaudevillians, Kaz Cooke brings to life a forgotten world of cunning clairvoyants and trained cockatoos; of fierce loyalties and mixed lollies; the glamour of the stage and the muck of the road. Funny, inventive and lovingly researched, Ada isthe story of an extraordinary woman in the toughest of times, with the courage to make herself the star. 'I'll tell you what I loved about being a theatrical. You're a custodian of magic, a purveyor of glamour, a repository of mystery. You're someone.' 'Ada is absolutely compelling, complex and real! This Lady Thesp leaps off the page and stage with a brilliant turn of phrase and a fascinating life. Laugh out loud - and heartbreaking.' - Gina Riley A former reporter and cartoonist, Kaz Cooke is the author of the bestselling books Up The Duff, Kidwrangling, Girl Stuff, Girl Stuff 8-12, Women's Stuff, and the children's picture books Wanda Linda Goes Berserk and The Terrible Underpants, which is not entirely autobiographical. This novel grew out of her research and exhibition during a Creative Fellowship at the State Library of Victoria, 2013-2015.
- GenresFictionHistorical
306 pages, Paperback
Published February 22, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 10, 2018
I really agonised between two and three stars for this. As fiction, it really needs two stars. The excellence of the history bumps it up to three, but oh I'm frustrated because I wanted so, so much more.
As a teenager, my parents used to get Melbourne Age delivered on weekends, despite the fact that we lived in Adelaide. (Young folk reading this may not understand pre-internet desperation of getting news from more than one company, but it wasn't easy). They tried to get us to engage with this, but all I ever wanted to do was read Kaz Cooke's column. When she published Crocodile Club in the early 90s, I was in heaven. I still love it, it is battered and bruised and well kept and well loved. I just noticed that the only GR review on it at the moment seems to not understand the style at all, which is fair enough, but Cooke's mix of celebration of the silly and call for things to be better, rocked my world for a long time. However, by the mid-90s, Cooke had found more success and a much bigger fanbase writing actually readable guides to pregnancy and child rearing, and as I never had kids, she more or less dropped out of my world. So, the excitement of discovering Cooke had produced a novel out of her creative fellowship at the State Library of Victoria, into a topic of unexplored fabulousness, was indescribable.
But as a novel, this just doesn't really work. Cooke's style is well suited to the first person narrative, capturing a sense of personality, disjointed connection and off the wall humour. But the pace at which it moves is relentlessly monotonous, and the style becomes exhausting very, very quickly. The story Cooke is telling is fascinating, the characters are *wonderfully* drawn, but the pacing issues become almost insurmountable: like trying to enjoy a play when you're physically uncomfortable. You keep trying to look past the growing sense of irritation, but it becomes increasingly difficult. The book badly needed an editor to intervene, and insist on some structural changes for readability.
So I would only recommend this with great caution as entertainment: the material really is wonderful. Ada is a hoot, and she describes the kind of community of flamboyant outsiders (and yet, integrated outsiders) that mainstream Australian history, obsessed with rugged men and hardworking, aproned women, tends to ignore completely. The performative, circus culture, the sense of Melbourne as a seedy city of indulgence, is such an important part of who we are, and Cooke captures its culture well. The historical afterword is also excellent. So well done, I really would recommend the whole book as a history lesson, on which it is much less dull than most of the competition.
As a teenager, my parents used to get Melbourne Age delivered on weekends, despite the fact that we lived in Adelaide. (Young folk reading this may not understand pre-internet desperation of getting news from more than one company, but it wasn't easy). They tried to get us to engage with this, but all I ever wanted to do was read Kaz Cooke's column. When she published Crocodile Club in the early 90s, I was in heaven. I still love it, it is battered and bruised and well kept and well loved. I just noticed that the only GR review on it at the moment seems to not understand the style at all, which is fair enough, but Cooke's mix of celebration of the silly and call for things to be better, rocked my world for a long time. However, by the mid-90s, Cooke had found more success and a much bigger fanbase writing actually readable guides to pregnancy and child rearing, and as I never had kids, she more or less dropped out of my world. So, the excitement of discovering Cooke had produced a novel out of her creative fellowship at the State Library of Victoria, into a topic of unexplored fabulousness, was indescribable.
But as a novel, this just doesn't really work. Cooke's style is well suited to the first person narrative, capturing a sense of personality, disjointed connection and off the wall humour. But the pace at which it moves is relentlessly monotonous, and the style becomes exhausting very, very quickly. The story Cooke is telling is fascinating, the characters are *wonderfully* drawn, but the pacing issues become almost insurmountable: like trying to enjoy a play when you're physically uncomfortable. You keep trying to look past the growing sense of irritation, but it becomes increasingly difficult. The book badly needed an editor to intervene, and insist on some structural changes for readability.
So I would only recommend this with great caution as entertainment: the material really is wonderful. Ada is a hoot, and she describes the kind of community of flamboyant outsiders (and yet, integrated outsiders) that mainstream Australian history, obsessed with rugged men and hardworking, aproned women, tends to ignore completely. The performative, circus culture, the sense of Melbourne as a seedy city of indulgence, is such an important part of who we are, and Cooke captures its culture well. The historical afterword is also excellent. So well done, I really would recommend the whole book as a history lesson, on which it is much less dull than most of the competition.
May 16, 2021
Quite by chance, I read "Ada" (for Book Club) immediately after reading "Searching for Charlotte" by Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrel. Each is the story of a remarkable woman of a past era, each is painstakingly and devotedly researched, and each provides the reader with a lively portrait in a vivid setting. There the similarities end as their structures and so different. Charlotte's story includes quotes from her writing and is interwoven with the stories of the research and the researchers. Ada's story is entirely told in her own (imagined) voice speaking on her deathbed to a mysterious, never-explained, young man. Both structures have their pros and cons.
I loved the voice that Kaz Cooke found for Ada with its unique turn of phrase, dated jokes and incredible stoicism. Her descriptions of touring the world with a kind of Music Hall/Circus troupe were fascinating as were the lives behind the scenes - so full of drama, hardship, jealousies and cameradery. The one-sided conversations with "Horrie" would have benefited from some editing, although I suppose were realistic for a morphine-affected deathbed. It must be near-impossible to keep a monologue going for a whole book without some annoying repetitions and inconsistencies, but Kaz gives it a good try.
The posters, pictures and author's acknowledgements give some idea of the research involved, but Ada's voice is a triumph.
I loved the voice that Kaz Cooke found for Ada with its unique turn of phrase, dated jokes and incredible stoicism. Her descriptions of touring the world with a kind of Music Hall/Circus troupe were fascinating as were the lives behind the scenes - so full of drama, hardship, jealousies and cameradery. The one-sided conversations with "Horrie" would have benefited from some editing, although I suppose were realistic for a morphine-affected deathbed. It must be near-impossible to keep a monologue going for a whole book without some annoying repetitions and inconsistencies, but Kaz gives it a good try.
The posters, pictures and author's acknowledgements give some idea of the research involved, but Ada's voice is a triumph.
June 20, 2022
What a fascinating lady, with a host of colourful characters. Quite enjoyed it.
December 1, 2017
I really liked the story and the characters but was really frustrated with the style of writing. It's probably just me and I don't want to put anyone off but I found myself getting a bit fed up with the back and forth and the amount of time Ada spent in pointless conversation with Horace when I really just wanted to learn about her life. A well padded out book...
January 13, 2019
For fans of Laura Lippman and Gillian Flynn comes an electrifying novel of stunning psychological suspense.
I am the star of screaming headlines and campfire ghost stories.
I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans.
The lucky one.
As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving “Black-Eyed Susan,” the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa’s testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row.
Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans—a summertime bloom—just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications—that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large—Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution. But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories—and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue.
What they don’t know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter. Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night.
Shocking, intense, and utterly original, Black-Eyed Susans is a dazzling psychological thriller, seamlessly weaving past and present in a searing tale of a young woman whose harrowing memories remain in a field of flowers—as a killer makes a chilling return to his garden. (less)
I am the star of screaming headlines and campfire ghost stories.
I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans.
The lucky one.
As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving “Black-Eyed Susan,” the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa’s testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row.
Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans—a summertime bloom—just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications—that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large—Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution. But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories—and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue.
What they don’t know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter. Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night.
Shocking, intense, and utterly original, Black-Eyed Susans is a dazzling psychological thriller, seamlessly weaving past and present in a searing tale of a young woman whose harrowing memories remain in a field of flowers—as a killer makes a chilling return to his garden. (less)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2017
I found Ada’s story of struggle and life in the theatre interesting but the one voice of retelling her life to Horace was a little onerous. Well researched and substantiated. Original plates interesting.
February 17, 2018
I think I was most fascinated by the history and imagining the research that went into it. Not sure I liked hearing the story from one unreliable narrator's voice. But I love hearing about Melbourne history, so interesting.
January 2, 2019
An enjoyable read, although I didn't find it completely "side splitting" funny as I read in a few reviews. I'm also in the performance profession, so it was very interesting to me in that respect and I also like reading real history. Would recommend.
January 15, 2021
I couldn't get into this book, although I really wanted to. I sought it out after listening to a podcast with Kaz Cook on Conversations (ABC Australia). I just didn't like the style of writing. I have loved Kaz's other books on pregnancy and child rearing though
November 27, 2023
This book really lost me.
It felt like there was a lot going on but also not enough to keep me entertained.
I loved the Australian land mark Elements but definitely not a book I would be recommending.
Not for me
It felt like there was a lot going on but also not enough to keep me entertained.
I loved the Australian land mark Elements but definitely not a book I would be recommending.
Not for me
December 17, 2017
I really enjoyed this fascinating book.
December 29, 2017
I recognise that underpinning this book was an incredible amount of research, however I would have preferred a straight biography over this padded out interview style.
January 20, 2018
Fascinating story told in an authentic voice.
July 1, 2018
Great concept, but written so poorly it is almost unreadable. That's a real shame cause it should be a great story.
September 11, 2018
Such a pity. Great subject but so poorly written. Where was her Editor? Really surprised it was released in this condition.
November 8, 2018
An interesting enough book due to the quirky narration, an even though historical stories are not really my favourite I did enjoy learning about Ada. Well researched.
April 24, 2022
Couldn't get past the first 30 pages. Loved the subject but the delivery did not suit me
Read
July 5, 2018Not for me. Very annoying. 😖
did-not-finish
September 13, 2018Can't all in all good conscience give this a star rating as I couldn't finish. Fucking awful are two words that spring to mind. Should have been great, could have been great, was actually a pile of shit. Tried and tried and tried and couldn't do it. And I hate that.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews