About Charmian Clift Books
Charmian Clift was born in the coastal town of Kiama, New South Wales, on 31 August 1923. After serving as a lieutenant in the Australian Army, she joined the staff of the Melbourne Argus newspaper, and in 1947 married fellow journalist George Johnston., Clift wrote the memoirs Mermaid Singing and Peel Me A Lotus, and her two novels, Honour's Mimic and Walk to the Paradise Gardens. Charmian Clift began writing a weekly column that appeared in the Melbourne Herald and the Sydney Morning Herald. Charmian Clift died in 1969. Nadia Wheatley is the editor of Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected essays of Charmian Clift and author of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift. Described by critic Peter Craven as ' one of the greatest Australian biographies', this was the Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 2001, and won the NSW Premier's Australian History Prize (2002). After twenty years it remains the classic account of the life and work of this transformational Australian writer.
