Elizabeth Harrower Biography

Australian novelist, born in Newcastle, New South Wales. She travelled in Europe and lived in London for several years. Her novels include Down in the City (1957), which traces the disillusionment of a middle-class woman married to a working-class businessman, who emerges as a racketeer and a bully; The Long Prospect (1958), which describes the adult world from the perspective of a child; and The Catherine Wheel (1960), set in London, which deals with the unsatisfactory relationship between a young Australian girl and her selfish and demanding lover. The Watch Tower (1966), perhaps her most ambitious novel, explores the tensions between three people: Felix Shaw, a cruel and tyrannical businessman, his wife, Laura, and her sister, Clare. As with all her fictions, it deals with the evil underlying apparent normality, and with the corrupting influence of power.