Australian History

Correggio Jones and the Runaways: The Italo-Australian connection by Desmond O’Grady

by Brenda Niall •

May 1995, no. 170

CIS Publishers, $19.95 pb

Australian History

Correggio Jones and the Runaways: The Italo-Australian connection by Desmond O’Grady

by Brenda Niall •

May 1995, no. 170

Desmond O’Grady is uniquely placed to interpret Australia for Italians and Italy for Australians. He grew up in suburban Melbourne, but as a journalist, biographer, and writer of fiction he has spent most of his working life in Rome.

In his new book, Correggio Jones and the Runaways, O’Grady brings together a fascinatingly varied group of expatriates’ portraits in order to examine the ideas of identity and place. This is a book about having two countries; about ‘longing and belonging, about changing countries and countries changing’. It is subtly autobiographical: the questions he explores, and the life stories he tells, have obvious personal resonance for O’Grady himself.

Brenda Niall

Brenda Niall’s writing career began during her time as an academic at Monash University, where she was Reader in the Department of English. Since 1995 she has been writing full time. Her books include award-winning biographies Martin Boyd: A Life (1988), Georgiana (1995), The Boyds (2002), Judy Cassab (2005), and a memoir, Life Class (2007). Her book The Riddle of Father Hackett was shortlisted for the 2010 Magarey Medal for Biography. She is a frequent reviewer for The Age and ABR, and has been a guest at the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Byron Bay literary festivals. In 2004 she was awarded an AO for services to Australian Literature. Her most recent books are My Accidental Career (2022), Can You Hear the Sea? My grandmother's story (2018) and Friends and Rivals: Ethel Turner, Barbara Baynton, Henry Handel Richardson and Nettie Palmer (2020).