Outrageous Fortunes : the adventures of Mary Fortune, crime-writer, and her criminal son George
Brown, Megan (Literary scholar)2025
Book
The gripping story of Australia's first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly-grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective's Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years - but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about 'unladylike' subjects. When Mary died in 1911, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune's astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son, George. While Mary was writing crime, George was committing it, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories, crime fiction meets true crime, and Melbourne's literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld.
Main title:
Outrageous Fortunes : the adventures of Mary Fortune, crime-writer, and her criminal son George / Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex.
Author:
Brown, Megan (Literary scholar), authorSussex, Lucy, 1957-, author
Work:
Imprint:
Wurundjeri Country ; Collingwood, VIC : La Trobe University Press, in conjunction with Black Inc., [2025]©2025
Collation:
341 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781760645052 (pbk)9781760645052 (paperback)
Dewey class:
A821.1821.1
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
817672
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Melbourne Library | Local History Non Fiction | LH 821.1 BROW | Available |
| narrm ngarrgu Library and Family Services | Local History Non Fiction | LH 821.1 BROW | Available |
| North Melbourne Library | Local History Non Fiction | LH 821.1 BROW | Available |
| North Melbourne Library | Local History Reference | LH REF 821.1 BROW | Not for loan (Set: 04 Mar 2025) |