INTRODUCTION
A Night to Remember
The Booker Prize dinner in Londonâs Guildhall is a flash affair. The wine flows as hundreds of publishers, authors, agents and critics crowd around their tables to hear which book has won the award for the best novel of the year from the British Commonwealth and Ireland. There is glamour, gossip and apprehension. The Booker brings prize money, but the real value comes from the cachet, which translates to sales and profile. Someoneâs life will change tonight.
In October 1997, a birdlike woman, Madeleine St John, was perched at one of the Guildhall tables. Her third novel, The Essence of the Thing , was on the shortlist. St John had struggled for decades to survive in Londonâshe was financially and physically stretched, already suffering from the emphysema that would claim her life. Scarcely known by the literary critics, she had enjoyed plenty of attention since the nomination, with journalists trooping up the stairs to her Notting Hill council flat for interviews.
At home, a surprised media reclaimed her as the first Australian woman shortlisted for the Booker. St John was furious. She had spent her life reinventing herself and avoiding the Australian tag, even taking British citizenship in 1995. All but one of her novels catalogued the lives of inner Londonâs professional class, not the bush and the beach. The last thing she wanted to be was Australian. But as the Channel 4 cameras panned across the Guildhall and millions of Britons watched the event live, Melvyn Bragg announced St John was from Australia.
The bookmakers had her as the outsider at eight to one, but writer A. S. Byatt told Channel 4 that The Essence of the Thing was the novel that excited her above the others. St John was nervous but hopeful of what the night would bring. Winning the Booker would be a vindication of the choices made a lifetime ago, proof to the extended St John clan, whom she loved and loathed, that she had succeeded in spite of them. The sweetest victory of all would be over her father, Edward St Johnâpolitician, barrister and pillar of the community. Ted had died in 1994, but his daughter still had scores to settle.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Madeleine St John destroyed most of her papers before she died, so piecing her life together was only possible with the help of her family and friends.
Colette St John Lippincott was open and generous and gave me access to a central part of Madeleineâs storyâSylvetteâs psychiatric records.
Chris Tillam provided material and extensive correspondence between Madeleine and his mother Joan Tillam.
Judith McCue allowed me to use nine hours of interviews she recorded with Madeleine in London in 2004. Few biographers receive such a gift and I am grateful to Judith.
Florence Heller was a vital link to the Ted and Sylvette years. Felicity Baker spoke at length about the times she shared with her cousin in the US and London, and provided key letters and photographs. Annabel Ritchie and Antony Minchin offered childhood memories and precious adult correspondence.
Ed St John and Patrick St John supported the biography, knowing it would inevitably contain hurtful statements from Madeleine about their parents.
Nicole Richardson allowed me to see family photographs and records, and her father Ron Storer offered important documentation and memories of Jean and Feiga Cargher.
Henriette Pile, Lorna Harvey, Ria Murch and Gloria Skinner and, before her death, Margaret Whitlam recalled memories of the young Sylvette.
Deslys Hunter, Jennifer Palmer, Angela McGrath, Susie Osmaston, Roslyn Grose and Sue Schauer shared memories of St Catherineâs and Queenwood. Thanks to Tina Micklethwait, Ingrid Wilkins, Roger Parkes, Jonette McDonnell, Renate Watkinson, Antony Harvey and Didy Harvey for memories of Castlecrag.
Madeleineâs friends from Sydney University were keen to help record the life of their friend. Thanks to Colleen Chesterman, Jane
A Night to Remember
The Booker Prize dinner in Londonâs Guildhall is a flash affair. The wine flows as hundreds of publishers, authors, agents and critics crowd around their tables to hear which book has won the award for the best novel of the year from the British Commonwealth and Ireland. There is glamour, gossip and apprehension. The Booker brings prize money, but the real value comes from the cachet, which translates to sales and profile. Someoneâs life will change tonight.
In October 1997, a birdlike woman, Madeleine St John, was perched at one of the Guildhall tables. Her third novel, The Essence of the Thing , was on the shortlist. St John had struggled for decades to survive in Londonâshe was financially and physically stretched, already suffering from the emphysema that would claim her life. Scarcely known by the literary critics, she had enjoyed plenty of attention since the nomination, with journalists trooping up the stairs to her Notting Hill council flat for interviews.
At home, a surprised media reclaimed her as the first Australian woman shortlisted for the Booker. St John was furious. She had spent her life reinventing herself and avoiding the Australian tag, even taking British citizenship in 1995. All but one of her novels catalogued the lives of inner Londonâs professional class, not the bush and the beach. The last thing she wanted to be was Australian. But as the Channel 4 cameras panned across the Guildhall and millions of Britons watched the event live, Melvyn Bragg announced St John was from Australia.
The bookmakers had her as the outsider at eight to one, but writer A. S. Byatt told Channel 4 that The Essence of the Thing was the novel that excited her above the others. St John was nervous but hopeful of what the night would bring. Winning the Booker would be a vindication of the choices made a lifetime ago, proof to the extended St John clan, whom she loved and loathed, that she had succeeded in spite of them. The sweetest victory of all would be over her father, Edward St Johnâpolitician, barrister and pillar of the community. Ted had died in 1994, but his daughter still had scores to settle.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Madeleine St John destroyed most of her papers before she died, so piecing her life together was only possible with the help of her family and friends.
Colette St John Lippincott was open and generous and gave me access to a central part of Madeleineâs storyâSylvetteâs psychiatric records.
Chris Tillam provided material and extensive correspondence between Madeleine and his mother Joan Tillam.
Judith McCue allowed me to use nine hours of interviews she recorded with Madeleine in London in 2004. Few biographers receive such a gift and I am grateful to Judith.
Florence Heller was a vital link to the Ted and Sylvette years. Felicity Baker spoke at length about the times she shared with her cousin in the US and London, and provided key letters and photographs. Annabel Ritchie and Antony Minchin offered childhood memories and precious adult correspondence.
Ed St John and Patrick St John supported the biography, knowing it would inevitably contain hurtful statements from Madeleine about their parents.
Nicole Richardson allowed me to see family photographs and records, and her father Ron Storer offered important documentation and memories of Jean and Feiga Cargher.
Henriette Pile, Lorna Harvey, Ria Murch and Gloria Skinner and, before her death, Margaret Whitlam recalled memories of the young Sylvette.
Deslys Hunter, Jennifer Palmer, Angela McGrath, Susie Osmaston, Roslyn Grose and Sue Schauer shared memories of St Catherineâs and Queenwood. Thanks to Tina Micklethwait, Ingrid Wilkins, Roger Parkes, Jonette McDonnell, Renate Watkinson, Antony Harvey and Didy Harvey for memories of Castlecrag.
Madeleineâs friends from Sydney University were keen to help record the life of their friend. Thanks to Colleen Chesterman, Jane
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