Author(s): Miriel Lenore

Poetry

The title of this poetry narrative - A Wild Kind of Tune - captures perfectly the imaginative journey into the poignant psycho-geography of Miriel Lenore's maternal great-grandmother, Caroline. In a wild tale arcing from 1845 to the present, in poetry underpinned by meticulous research, we inhabit settler society with all its attendant joys, hardship and grief as we careen with Caroline through her journey of love, loss and horror into madness. The use of the actual medical records from late nineteenth century Asylums for the Insane (Gladesville and Kenmore) is chilling in the extreme; the rendering of these facts into a narrative of sensitive family history a partial redemption, a heartfelt honouring, of Caroline's bitter life. Lenore has made an important literary contribution to our understanding of the mistreatment of the mentally ill, especially women, in Australia's history. - Biff Ward, author of In My Mother's Hands