Jean Galbraith: Writer in a Valley by Meredith Fletcher

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges.

Writer in a Valley is the compelling story of Jean Galbraith (1906-1999), one of Australia's most influential botanists and writers on nature, plants and gardens.

As a garden writer, she was particularly notable for spreading knowledge of Australian flora and encouraging the cultivation of natives in home gardens. As a botanist, she wrote accessible field guides to Australian wildflowers that contributed to the conservation of native plants.

She conveyed the wonders of nature to generations of children through her child-centred stories of adventures in the natural world. Her nature writing evoked the spirit of places she knew well and introduced readers to the beauty of the Australian bush.

This book also explores the relationship between a writer and her place, the valley of the Latrobe River in Gippsland, bordered by the foothills of the Great Dividing Range to the north and the Strzelecki Ranges to the south, where temperate rainforest can still be found in the folds of the hills.

Galbraith's writing was inspired by her place: the house, garden and valley where she lived from childhood to old age. Her story, then, is an interplay between the local and the national. From her home in Gippsland, inspired by her surroundings, Galbraith put her vision of nature into words and helped Australians of all ages to see their own landscapes in new ways.

Through telling Jean Galbraith's story, important themes in Australia's twentieth-century botanical, gardening and conservation history are explored. But also explored is the life of a gifted writer with a passion for nature and an urge to share - and conserve - the beauty around her. (back cover)