Catherine Gaskin (2 April 1929—6 September 2009) was an Irish–Australian romance novelist.[1]

Catherine Gaskin
Born(1929-04-02)2 April 1929
Louth (County), Ireland
Died6 September 2009(2009-09-06) (aged 79–80)
Sydney, New South Wales
Occupationnovelist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian
Years active1946-1988
Notable worksSara Dane

Biography

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Gaskin was born in Dundalk Bay, County Louth, Ireland in 1929. When she was only three months old, her parents moved to Australia, settling in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney, where she grew up. Her first novel This Other Eden, was written when she was 15 and published two years later.[2] After her second novel, With Every Year, was published, she moved to London. Three best-sellers followed: Dust in Sunlight (1950), All Else is Folly (1951), and Daughter of the House (1952).

She completed her best-known work, Sara Dane, on her 25th birthday in 1954, and it was published in 1955. It sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into a number of other languages, and was made into a television mini-series in Australia in 1982.[3] This novel is loosely based on the life of the Australian convict businesswoman Mary Reibey, whose image has appeared on the Australian $20 note since 1994. Other novels included A Falcon for a Queen (1972) and The Summer of the Spanish Woman (1977).[4]

Gaskin moved to Manhattan for ten years, after marrying a United States citizen. She then moved to the Virgin Islands, then in 1967 to Ireland, where she became an Irish citizen.[4] She also lived on the Isle of Man.[2] Her last novel was The Charmed Circle (1988). She then returned to Sydney, where she died in September 2009, aged 80, from ovarian cancer.

Selected works

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Novels

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  • This Other Eden (1947)
  • With Every Year (1948)
  • Dust in Sunlight (1950)
  • All Else Is Folly (1951)
  • Daughter of the House (1952)
  • Sara Dane (1954)
  • Blake's Reach (1958)
  • Corporation Wife (1960)
  • I Know My Love (1962)
  • The Tilsit Inheritance (1963)
  • The File On Devlin (1965)
  • Edge of Glass (1967)
  • Fiona (1970)
  • A Falcon for a Queen (1972)
  • The Property of a Gentleman (1974)
  • The Lynmara Legacy (1975)
  • The Summer of the Spanish Woma (1977)
  • Family Affairs (1980)
  • Promises (1982)
  • The Ambassador's Women (1985)
  • The Charmed Circle (1988)

Collections

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  • Selected Works (1978)

References and sources

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References
  1. ^ "Austlit — Catherine Gaskin". Austlit. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b AustList
  3. ^ Sara Dane at IMDb
  4. ^ a b "Internet Book List". Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
Sources
  • Obituary, The Age, 24 September 2009, p. 25
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