Milk (short story collection) explained

Milk
Author:	Beverley Farmer
Country:	Australia
Language:	English
Publisher:	McPhee Gribble
Release Date:	1983
Media Type:	Print
Pages:	178 pp
Isbn:	0140071849
Preceded By:	Snake
Followed By:	Home Time

Milk (1983) is a collection of short stories by Australian writer Beverley Farmer. It was published by McPhee Gribble in 1983.^[1]

The collection includes 15 stories by the author from a variety of sources.^[1]

Contents

"Milk" "Melpo" "Sally's Birthday" "Saint Kay's Day" "At the Airport" "Ismini" "Darling Odile" "Gerontissa" "Snake" "Pumpkin" "Summer on Ice" "Inheritance" "The Captain's House" "Woman in a Mirror" "Maria's Girl"

Dedication

• "All of us are passing through no matter where we go...." Stratis Myrivilis, The Mermaid Madonna

Critical reception

Writing in The Canberra Times reviewer Susan McKernan noted: "Farmer is a sensual writer — she describes food, the feel of sand or ice or sex, sunsets and sunrises, with a poet's understanding. Sometimes her ability to convey sensual experience is disturbing and even nauseating — as in her description of how it feels to have cancer of the cervix."^[2]

Publication history

After its original publication in 1983^[3] the collection was reprinted by McPhee Gribble in 1990.^[4]

Awards

The collection won the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in 1984.^[5]

See also

• 1983 in Australian literature

Notes and References

1. Web site: Milk by Beverley Farmer. Austlit. 16 November 2023.
2. Web site: "The resilient and the sensual" . The Canberra Times, 21 January 1984, p18. 16 November 2023.
3. Web site: Milk (McPhee Gribble 1983) . National Library of Australia. 16 November 2023.
4. Web site: Milk (McPhee Gribble 1990) . National Library of Australia. 16 November 2023.
5. Web site: Austlit — Christina Stead Prize 1984 . Austlit. 16 November 2023.