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A Mother's Disgrace by Robert Dessaix
Category: Biography
Adopted as a baby towards the end of World War II, Robert Dessaix grew up haunted by 'a shaft of silence' surrounding the question of his natural mother's identity, and of his own identity and sexuality. In this touching memoir, he recounts the story of a most unusual childhood on Sydney's North Shore, ...Show more
Abracadabra by Robert Dessaix
Category: Biography
'The first time around these pieces were not widely heard or read. A roomful of festival-goers in Sydney or Penang or Ballarat could well have heard me hold forth on the subject of Enid Blyton, say, or kissing, it’s true, and a few of my newspaper articles – my feuilletons, as I’m calling them – may hav ...Show more
Arabesques: A Tale of Double Lives by Robert Dessaix
Category: Biography
One Sunday afternoon in a secluded valley in Normandy, Robert Dessaix chanced upon the castle where the 20th-century French writer Andre Gide spent his childhood. Recalling the excitement he felt when he first read Gide as a teenager, Dessaix sets off to recapture what it was that once drew him so stron ...Show more
Arabesques: A Tale of Double Lives - SIGNED by Robert Dessaix
Category: Travel
One Sunday afternoon in a secluded valley in Normandy, Robert Dessaix chanced upon the castle where the famous French writer Andre Gide spent his childhood. Recalling the excitement Robert felt when he first read Gide as a teenager, he set off to recapture what it was that once drew him so strongly to t ...Show more
Arabesques: A tale of double lives by Robert Dessaix
Category: Travel
One Sunday afternoon in a secluded valley in Normandy, France, Robert Dessaix chanced upon the castle where the famous French writer Andre Gide spent his childhood. Recalling the excitement Robert felt when he first read Gide as a teenager, he set off to recapture what it was that once drew him so stron ...Show more
As I Was Saying - A Collection of Musings by Robert Dessaix
Category: Non-Fiction
AS I WAS SAYING is a swirling conversation with the reader on everything from travel to dogs and cats, from sport and swearing to the pleasures of idleness. Punctuated at regular intervals by talks Dessaix has given on a wide range of subjects, as well as by some of his most incisive journalism, the con ...Show more
Corfu by Robert Dessaix
Category: Fiction
House in Gastouri for rent for 2 mths. Occupant travelling. Reasonable rent. In a village on the island of Corfu, alone in the cottage of a man hes never met, a young Australian actor pieces together the strange life story of the Australian writer whose house hes living in. As he explores his surroundi ...Show more
Night Letters by Robert Dessaix
Category: Fiction
Every night for twenty nights in a hotel room in Venice, a man recently diagnosed with HIV writes a letter home to a friend. he describes not only the kaleidoscopic journey he has just made from Switzerland across northern Italy to Venice, but reflects on questions of mortality, seduction and the search ...Show more
On Humbug by Robert Dessaix
Category: Gift | Series: Little Books on Big Themes
With his trademark eloquence and humour, Robert Dessaix, one of Australia's eminent writers, tackles humbug in the modern world; the tide of mumbo jumbo where words fall short of what they mean and motivations are not always what they appear.
The Pleasures of Leisure by Robert Dessaix
Category: Non-Fiction
In today's crazily busy world the importance of making time for leisure is more vital than ever. Yet so many of us lack a talent for it. We are working longer hours, consuming more than ever before; technology erodes the work-life balance further; increasingly, people feel that only work gives existence ...Show more
The Pleasures of Leisure by Robert Dessaix
Category: Philosophy
'Almost everybody I know has done it at least once. Some of my friends indulge on a regular basis. Women seem especially susceptible to giving it a go. I?ve been at it since I was at least five. What on earth do we imagine we?re doing??Many of us lack a talent for leisure. We are working longer hours as ...Show more