Author(s): Derek Challis

NZ Biography/Memoir

Longlisted, Montana New Zealand Book Awards, 2003 (Non-Fiction: Biography Section) This extraordinary biography of Robin Hyde (Iris Wilkinson) has been in the making for forty years and it fills a major gap in our literary history. It is a gripping and profoundly moving story which includes appalling accounts of hidden pregnancies, experience as a solo mother, dependence on drugs, intimate acquaintance with sexism and poverty, mental breakdown, an extraordinary trip in China during the Sino-Japanese war. Hyde is revealed here, especially in her letters, as a feisty, witty, courageous woman rather than the languid and sentimental adolescent laughed at by contemporary male writers.