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Restless Dolly Maunder
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
24 posts | 18 read | 15 to read
Dolly Maunder is born at the end of the nineteenth century, when societys long-locked doors are just starting to creak ajar for determined women. Growing up in a poor farming family in rural New South Wales, Dolly spends her life doggedly pushing at those doors. A husband and two children do not deter her from searching for love and independence. Restless Dolly Maunder is a subversive, triumphant tale of a pioneering woman working her way through a world of limits and obstacles, who is able despite the cost to make a life she could call her own.
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Jeg
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Enjoyed reading this fiction based on fact about Kate‘s grandmother. A journey of a strong woman born at a difficult time for women who wanted a life that wasn‘t just getting married and having a family.

charl08 I love your cover! 4mo
15 likes1 comment
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Donna1980
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Mehso-so

Looking for some light relief after what felt like months of books with so much sorrow and sadness. Dolly Maunder is the author‘s maternal grandmother. There was a gentleness to the narrative although Dolly is a far from gentle character. I‘m not sure I quite agree with its shortlisting for the woman‘s prize for fiction but it was a solid read. It released me from the sorrow of the last few books I had read. For that I thank Dolly, very much.

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jlhammar
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Restless indeed! I thought this was terrific. Captivating and heartfelt historical fiction inspired by the life of Grenville‘s maternal grandmother. Now I‘m very interested to read One Life: My Mother‘s Story, nonfiction about her mother Nance.

#WomensPrize

81 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Jas16
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

I have often said that if I were to write a novel I would want to explore my grandmother‘s life and everything she faced that turned her into the woman she became. Perhaps because of that I was predisposed to really enjoy this book that tackles the life of the author‘s own grandmother, a woman restless in the life that society allows her. The audio version was well done and I raced through this one.

Aims42 This sounds so good! Insta-stacked 🤩 6mo
46 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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BookishTrish
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Grenville fictionalizes her grandmother‘s story as a way of examining mother‘s mother‘s life so she can understand who she was besides a cold parent. Empathetic and healing.

58 likes1 stack add
blurb
BarbaraBB
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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#BookReport 19/24

Bitter Herbs (Het bittere kruid) is fantastic, a Dutch classic rediscovered and an absolute gem. I also loved Mrs Caliban and want to read more Ingalls. Dolly Maunders I am still thinking of even though I didn‘t like the book that much. What‘s left of me is yours was enjoyable too but one I won‘t remember for long.

DebinHawaii Mrs. Caliban does not get enough love! I was turned onto it a few years ago for #AuldLangSpine & still think about it & recommend it! Stacking Bitter Herbs & the tagged book. 💛 (edited) 6mo
75 likes1 stack add1 comment
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BarbaraBB
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Dolly‘s was the transition generation. Dolly Maunders is born at the end of the 19th century, just when things were starting to change for women and their possibilities in life. Dolly wants to grasp them all, there‘s always something better, somewhere. Her restlessness is understandable but has its bad sides. She‘s never quite happy with what she has and it makes her a rather cold, dominating mother. ⬇️⬇️

BarbaraBB This is an interesting portrait of a real woman but the story in itself is a bit repetitive and except for Dolly all other characters have not really been worked out which seems a missed opportunity. A light pick for this #womensprize book. (edited) 6mo
Jas16 Just starting the audiobook today. A light pick seems to be the consensus. 6mo
Hooked_on_books I thought this book was fine but that‘s about it. I‘m disappointed it made the shortlist over books I thought were much better. 6mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books I think maybe the fact that is was do different (an ambitious but not very sympathetic mc with zero interest in the people around her) made it stand out ? 6mo
Hooked_on_books That could be. I thought she was a great character, but I just didn‘t find the book all that compelling. I think it‘s the writing. Clearly the judging committee disagrees! 6mo
83 likes1 stack add5 comments
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AnneCecilie
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Dolly is born as the 6th of 7 siblings into a poor farming family in 1881. She‘s also born into a man‘s world where a man‘s word is final, first your father and then your husband because marriage is the only option for a woman. But Dolly what something else, so how do you make that happen within society‘s limits? This is the story of how Dolly managed that

When I finished I liked this, but as some time has passed I realize that I love this one

BarbaraBB Great review. I am about to start it. 6mo
julieclair This sounds really good. And who could resist that gorgeous cover? Stacked. 6mo
Cathythoughts Sounds good. Stacked 👍🏻♥️ 6mo
60 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Deblovestoread
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Dolly was indeed restless as she forged a life for herself and family within the constraints of her time. She was hard working, quite often fueled by anger. In many ways she reminded me of my mother so I unexpectedly connected to her story. 4 🌟

BarbaraBB That is great when a book does that. I still need to read it. 7mo
jlhammar I have this waiting for me. Glad to hear it‘s good! 7mo
60 likes2 stack adds2 comments
blurb
AnneCecilie
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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As soon as she could walk, she knew she wanted to be outside, moving

#FirstLineFridays

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ChaoticMissAdventures
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

4⭐ I enjoyed this. Makes total sense why the Women's Prize put this on the long list, it looks at the Australian life in the turn of into 1900s and through WWII. Dolly is somehow an unlikable but relatable character. She wants so much more than she was born into and being a woman severely limits how far she can climb.
I liked that she was a complex character, she is a terrible mother, but she is ambitious and I still was rooting for her.

blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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This book is the fictionalized life of the authors grandmother.
A photo of the real Dolly is in the back of the book.

blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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These endpapers are so gorgeous, it makes picking up the book delightful. I wish more publishers would do this. It would cause me to buy and keep a lot more books.

Tamra Wow! 7mo
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 7mo
DebinHawaii Beautiful! 😍 7mo
35 likes3 comments
quote
ChaoticMissAdventures
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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"And she always came back to the same thing: she'd rather go on being a married woman, no matter how hollow the marriage was.
She was forty -five. The prime of life for a man, but on the downhill slope for a woman."

Yikes! As a happily divorced woman edging 45 this is harsh ? Picture with Serene because what would Dolly think with me and my cats! ?
#WomensPrizeForFiction
#WPFLL

BarbaraBB It sounds like you‘re having a good time with the book! Looking forward to it 7mo
ChaoticMissAdventures @BarbaraBB it is interesting, the main character isn't exactly likable but she is plucky. 7mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 7mo
26 likes3 comments
quote
ChaoticMissAdventures
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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"But a girl was stuck on the flypaper of being dependent on a man unless she can support herself. And there was something else too, something beyond the nuts-and-bolts: it was about not being trapped in a world of small thinking that was all most women had access to."

I see why this is in the women's Prize long list, such a reflection on women's rights and the limitations of being a woman in the early 1900s of Australia.

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Hooked_on_books
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Mehso-so

Dolly, born in 1881 small town Australia, is a dynamic, determined woman who wants to have a place in a world that sees women as homemakers. So, she‘s always on the hunt, moving and working with her husband to succeed. I should love this book, but while the story itself is interesting, it‘s all very flat. Dolly should leap off the page, but the writing is dull and she just lays there. This book feels like a missed opportunity.

squirrelbrain I thought it felt very rushed - many years in a short book with not much attention paid to anything. 7mo
41 likes1 comment
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charl08
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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The lives of Dolly and her forebears all stand on the taking of land, but the family stories I drew on for this book are silent about that truth. They also record no awareness of the enduring sorrow all the taking meant and means for First Nations people. As Dolly's granddaughter, I want to acknowledge that silence and that sorrow. I've told one story here, but standing beside it is another.

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quote
charl08
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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As far as she could see, being Catholic or Protestant wasn't such a big thing. Church was just what you did once a week. You said the prayers and you sang the hymns and then afterwards you stood outside the church having a good old gasbag. The C of Es like the Maunders stood outside their church and the RCs like the Murphys stood outside theirs, and then for the rest of the week you were just all in together.

Suet624 A good old gasbag. Love it. 7mo
40 likes1 comment
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rachaich
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

Rather like Kate Grenville and this was no exception.
Whilst I feel it lacked some of the depth of her previous novels, this became a bit clearer on reading her notes.
Dolly is always on the move, looking for new opportunities. She's frustrated at the dependency of women at the time. And so her life pans out.

charl08 I agree - would have been stronger for me if somehow she could have got the notes into the novel itself! 7mo
23 likes1 comment
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TheKidUpstairs
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

A solid historical fiction read about a complicated woman in early 20th century Australia, trying to find a way to live within the narrow confines of society. Grenville's author notes and connection to Dolly add extra interest.

It was a good read, but as a #WomensPrize nominee, it wouldn't make my Shortlist. I enjoyed it, but nothing felt new or exceptional to make it Prize worthy.

squirrelbrain I agree with your view, it wouldn‘t make my shortlist either. 8mo
rmaclean4 This is one my library does not have. I think I will hold off and see if it makes the short list. 8mo
64 likes2 stack adds2 comments
blurb
TheKidUpstairs
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Gotta love some gorgeous end papers! 😍

jlhammar I just got this one and was thinking the same thing. Stunning! 8mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Gorgeous 💚 8mo
charl08 😍 8mo
See All 6 Comments
Singout OMG Scugog! I‘m in PP visiting my folks right now! 8mo
TheKidUpstairs @Singout no way! Small world! I love right near downtown, and actually work at the library. Welcome to town! 8mo
Singout Oh, cool! My parents are regular patrons of all the programs, and my sister Joanna was in the same grade as the guy who hosts the film nights (among other things). 8mo
73 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Leniverse
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Mehso-so

Fictionalised account of the life of the author's grandmother. Dolly is an unyielding and not very likeable character, but she was a product of her time and circumstances. Made me very happy I wasn't born a century earlier and in rural Australia. A quick read. Plain story and plain prose, but interesting. Lacked that 'little extra' for me, even though it says something universal about being a woman.

#womensprize #longlist #womensprize2024

charl08 I'm hoping to get to this one soon: Library request allowing! 8mo
Leniverse @charl08 Hopefully it won't take too long! My library has been pretty good, although it doesn't have all of them and only one copy of the Nolan book 😒 My hold is number 8. Might have to cave and just buy that one. 8mo
41 likes2 comments
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squirrelbrain
Restless Dolly Maunder | Kate Grenville
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Pickpick

I liked this, but not as much as the other HF that I‘ve read from the #womensprize longlist.

The novel is based on the life of the author‘s own grandmother, living in Australia at the end of the 1800s, up until just after WWII.

Dolly moves around a *lot* and this lends a restlessness to the book as well - it almost felt a little rushed in places as we were never in one place long enough to learn about it, or the people that lived there.

LeeRHarry You‘re on a roll with the WP books! 😊 8mo
Hooked_on_books Look at you with your longlist stack! I actually just finished a different book by this author today. 8mo
squirrelbrain It‘s all I‘m reading at the moment! (Fiction and NF) @LeeRHarry 8mo
See All 6 Comments
squirrelbrain @Hooked_on_books - that one is supposed to be good - did you like it? 8mo
Hooked_on_books I did, but it didn‘t blow me away. I wanted more of a character arc for the main character. (edited) 8mo
charl08 Interesting. I've loved some of her others. Tempering expectations! 8mo
98 likes2 stack adds6 comments