Cold Light (97 page)

I would like to especially thank the professional back-up I have received from my agents, the remarkable Rosemary Creswell (now retired) and Jane Cameron at the Cameron Creswell Agency, who have always gone beyond the call of duty for this project. At Random House Australia I have had outstanding professional judgement and support during the creation of the trilogy – for the first two volumes from Jane Palfreyman, who has now moved on, and now for this final volume from Meredith Curnow, publisher, and from Margie Seale, managing director. For
Cold Light
I also had remarkably fine editorial support from editors Roberta Ivers and Sophie Ambrose. And I also wish to thank designer Gayna Murphy for the creation of the covers for the new editions, and the astute eye of Julian Welch, who did the final check of the book.

For those who read and commented on drafts of the whole or parts of the book I owe special thanks for their undertaking of this most demanding of tasks: Sandra Levy, Helen Lewis, Don Anderson, Julianne Schultz, Rohan Haslam, Nick Horne, Annie Hollander, Graham Freudenberg and Angela Bowne.

My specialist readers were Dr Lenore Coltheart, historian and consultant with the National Archives of Australia; Xavier Hennekinne, from the International Organisation for Migration; and Bettina Arndt, who provided me with invaluable access to papers concerning her family and its special role in Canberra during the time covered by the book. But, of course, any errors that have found their way into the book are entirely my responsibility.

I wish to acknowledge Christine Allsopp, my guide and companion during the writing of
Grand Days
in France – eighteen years ago – at the beginning of the whole project. I owe her a great debt.

I wish finally to acknowledge Sandra Levy, dear friend and adviser of many years.

Frank Moorhouse was born and raised in the coastal town of Nowra, New South Wales. He worked as an editor of small-town newspapers and as an administrator before becoming a full-time writer.

Grand Days
, the first novel in the Edith Trilogy, won the SA Premier’s Award for Fiction.
Dark Palace
won the 2001 Miles Franklin Literary Award and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award and the
Age
Book of the Year Award.

During the twenty years it took to write the Edith Trilogy, Moorhouse lived abroad, researching the novels in Canberra; Geneva; France; Washington DC, where he was a Woodrow Wilson Scholar and a Senior Fulbright Fellow; the Middle East; and at Cambridge University, where he was writer in residence at King’s College.

His work has been published in the UK and the US and translated into several languages. He was made a member of the Order of Australia for his services to literature and has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Griffith University.

By the same author

FICTION

Futility and Other Animals

The Americans, Baby

The Electrical Experience

Tales of Mystery and Romance

Conference-ville

The Everlasting Secret Family and Other Secrets

Forty-Seventeen

Grand Days

Dark Palace

OTHER BOOKS

Room Service

Lateshows

Loose Living

The Inspector-General of Misconception

NON-FICTION

Days of Wine and Rage

Martini: A Memoir

BOOKS EDITED BY THE AUTHOR

Coast to Coast 1973

State of the Art

Fictions 88

A Steele Rudd Selection

Prime Ministers of Australia

The Best Australian Stories 2004

The Best Australian Stories 2005

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian
Copyright Act 1968
), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0
Cold Light
9781742754574

First published by Random House Australia in 2011. This edition published in 2012

Copyright © Frank Moorhouse

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

A Vintage book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW, 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.com.au/offices

First published by Random House Australia in 2011

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Moorhouse, Frank, 1938–
Cold light/Frank Moorhouse

ISBN 9781742754574 (ebook)

Women diplomats – Fiction.
Man-woman relationships – Australian Capital Territory – Canberra – Fiction.
Australia – Politics and government – 20th century – Fiction.
Australia – Social life and customs – 20th century – Fiction.

A823.3

Cover photographs: lady © Condé Nast Archive / Corbis; and bookshelves © Arthur Baensch / Corbis
Cover design by Gayna Murphy, Gayna Murphy Design

The author gratefully acknowledges permission to quote from ‘Anything Goes’ by Cole Porter © 1934 WB Music Corp. For Australia & New Zealand: Warner/Chappell Music Australia Pty Ltd.
Typeset and eBook production by
Midland Typesetters
, Australia