Audiobook · read by volunteers
Getting of Wisdom
Henry Handel Richardson (1870–1946)
Read by Chip, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Betsie Bush, Kristin LeMoine, Alys AtteWater, Lucy Burgoyne (1950-2014), Kirsten Ferreri, Jason Oakley, Cori Samuel, Larysa Jaworski · 25 chapters · 7 h 47
About the book
Laura Rambotham is twelve years old and about to enter a fashionable boarding school in Melbourne. She is clever, imaginative and eager to be liked, and she soon discovers that the world of the school has its own unwritten rules, its rivalries and its cruelties. Her friendships are intense and uncertain, her enemies are quick to notice her weaknesses, and her talents do not always bring her what she hopes for.
Henry Handel Richardson drew on her own schooldays at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College for this lively, perceptive and often very funny novel, which is among the classics of Australian literature. In twenty-five chapters and just under eight hours, the story follows Laura from newcomer to young woman, with humour, sympathy and a sharp eye for the small dramas of adolescent life.
Introduction
Henry Handel Richardson was the pen name of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (1870–1946), an Australian novelist who spent much of her adult life in England. Her best-known works are the trilogy The Fortunes of Richard Mahony and the novel The Getting of Wisdom, which was published in 1910. The use of a masculine pen name was not unusual for women writers of her generation.
The Getting of Wisdom is based on the author’s own experiences at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Melbourne. Its heroine, Laura Rambotham, enters the school at the age of twelve, and the story follows her through friendships, jealousies and disappointments. The tone is ironic rather than sentimental. Richardson notices the way schoolgirls form alliances, how reputations are made and lost, and how a bright child can find her individuality a handicap in a place that rewards conformity. The book is sometimes compared with other novels of school life, but it is distinct in its candour and its psychological realism.
The novel is considered a classic of Australian literature. It has also been adapted for the cinema, and it remains a staple of reading lists.
The recording has 25 sections and lasts close to eight hours. It is read by LibriVox volunteers. Why listen now? Because the book describes a stage of life that many people recognise, and because it does so with intelligence and restraint. If you like novels about education and growing up, or if you want to explore early Australian fiction, this is an excellent place to start. The humour is dry, and the insight lasts.
Public domain
Henry Handel Richardson died in 1946: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text