'A rare gem. This is biography at its best: boldly conceived and
brilliantly written. In spare, haunting prose Cathy Perkins rescues Zora Cross
from oblivion, re-establishing her as one of Australia's most remarkable
literary figures. We see Zora's life through the stories of her relationships
with others. The person that emerge - possessed by an irrepressible hunger to
write and to be published - is impossible to pin down. In Perkins's hands, Zora
Cross dances vividly before our eyes.' - Mark McKenna



Australian poet and journalist Zora Cross caused a sensation in
1917 with her book Songs
of Love and Life. Here was a young woman who looked like a Sunday
school teacher, celebrating sexual passion in a provocative series of sonnets.
She was hailed as a genius, and many expected her to endure as a household name
alongside Shakespeare and Rossetti. While Cross's fame didn't last, she kept
writing through financial hardship, personal tragedies and two world wars,
producing an impressive body of work. Her verse, prose and correspondence
with the likes of Ethel Turner, George Robertson (of Angus & Robertson) and
Mary Gilmore place Zora Cross among the key personalities of Australia's
literary world in the early twentieth century. The Shelf Life of Zora Cross reveals the
life of a neglected writer and intriguing person.



'I must confess I had never heard of Zora Cross, but this
meticulously researched biography captures the spirited actress turned erotic
poet with fresh insight, revealing a woman who not only defied convention to
write with uninhibited passion but also had a horserace named after her! The
pages teem with vividly drawn portraits of the luminaries of Australian
literature, in all their flaw