Thank you to Helen Garner for the trust she placed in me, for her generosity of spirit and for the laughter. Thank you also to Michael Heyward, Elena Gomez and the team at Text Publishing for making this a much shorter and better book that it would otherwise have been.
Some key figures in Helen Garner’s life and work chose not to be interviewed for this book. I respect their decision. I would like to thank those people who did share with me their insights about Garner and her work: Hilary McPhee, Peter Craven, Judith Whitworth, Sally Ford, Catherine Ford, David Malouf, Raimond Gaita, Helen Elliott, James Button, Michael Gawenda, Barbara Mobbs, Jenny Sages, Edmund Campion, Tim Winton, Drusilla Modjeska, Jane Clifton, Nam Le, Brian Stonier, Ken Crispin, Colin Talbot and Ross Gibson.
One of the great pleasures in researching this book was meeting Jenny Sages, a brilliant artist and wonderful woman. Thank you Jenny for so generously allowing me to use your beautiful photographs of Helen Garner.
Thanks also to my wonderful brother Paul Brennan for the Scotchmer Street photographs, and to Sally Ford for alerting me to the mural’s existence. Thank you to the current owners of the house, Rosalba Fogliani and Andrew Wilkinson, for allowing me to share with readers their unique piece of history.
I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the staff in the pictures and manuscripts branch at the National Library of Australia. Their knowledge, professionalism and diligence was exceptional. They provided me with unstinting, invaluable assistance. My thanks also to the staff in the special collections archives at the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne, and the staff at the National Archives of Australia.