The Well (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Well is a Miles Franklin Award
winning novel by Australia
n author Elizabeth Jolley
. It tells the story of two women, Hester and her young ward Katherine, and their relationship with one another. Hester, who has lived alone on a farm with her father for many years, is possessive of the much younger Katherine. The relationship between the two women becomes strained after an incident where Katherine hits a mysterious creature with the roo bar on their four wheel drive. It is left unclear whether the creature is an animal or an intruder who has stolen a large sum of money from the house. When Katherine begins to hear voices from the well and becomes racked with guilt, Hester goes to extreme measures to maintain her influence over her young ward.
In 1997 a film of the same name was adapted from this novel. The film was directed by Samantha Lang, from a screenplay by Laura Jones
and featured Pamela Rabe
and Miranda Otto
.
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
winning novel by Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author Elizabeth Jolley
Elizabeth Jolley
Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels , four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving...
. It tells the story of two women, Hester and her young ward Katherine, and their relationship with one another. Hester, who has lived alone on a farm with her father for many years, is possessive of the much younger Katherine. The relationship between the two women becomes strained after an incident where Katherine hits a mysterious creature with the roo bar on their four wheel drive. It is left unclear whether the creature is an animal or an intruder who has stolen a large sum of money from the house. When Katherine begins to hear voices from the well and becomes racked with guilt, Hester goes to extreme measures to maintain her influence over her young ward.
In 1997 a film of the same name was adapted from this novel. The film was directed by Samantha Lang, from a screenplay by Laura Jones
Laura Jones (screenwriter)
Laura Jones in Australia is a screenwriter.Jones started her career writing teleplays for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Her first feature film credit was the original screenplay for High Tide , directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Judy Davis...
and featured Pamela Rabe
Pamela Rabe
Pamela Rabe is a Canadian / Australian stage, television and film actor. A graduate from the Playhouse Acting School, in Vancouver, Pamela Rabe is one of Australia’s most highly regarded and awarded actors. She is best known for her appearances in the films Cosi, Sirens and Paradise Road...
and Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto is an Australian actress. The daughter of actors Lindsay and Barry Otto and the sister of actress Gracie Otto, she began acting at age eighteen, and has performed in a variety of independent and major studio films....
.
Awards
- Miles Franklin Literary Award, 1986: winner
- FAW Barbara Ramsden Award for the Book of the Year, 1986: winner
Reviews
- "Sweet Gypsy Mama" weblog http://sweetgypsymama.com/bookreviews/2008/07/18/the-well-%E2%80%93-elizabeth-jolley-1986/
- "Trevor's Writing" weblog http://www.trevorhampel.com/review-the-well-by-elizabeth-jolley/
See also
- "Sexual Gothic: Marian Engel's Bear and Elizabeth Jolley's The Well" http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1064&context=artspapers