From a chair in the sun: the life of Ethel Turner. A. T. Yearwood. 1994.

Unusual for the era into which she was born, Ethel Turner was determined to make a career for herself. Her life as a writer began while she was still at school and continued throughout her marriage to Judge Herbert Curlewis and while she raised family.

Best remembered as the author of Seven Little Australians, published when she was only 24, Ethel also wrote articles, essays, poetry and edited the children’s pages of several newspapers. For many years a new Ethel Turner book appeared each Christmas.

An astute business woman, Ethel was one of the great publicists of her generation, taking a keen interest in public affairs and lending her voice and her pen to such causes as temperance, conscription and the welfare of children and working girls.

Sandy Yarwood’s fascinating portrayal revels a woman who wanted love in a family and fame as  a writer and achieved both.