In 1831 Sydney, New South Wales, Charles Adare arrives with his uncle, the new governor. Charles hopes to make his fortune. He is befriended by Samson Flusky, a prosperous businessman who is a former transported convict. Sam's wife, Lady Henrietta, was a friend of Charles' sister in Ireland. Sam hopes that Charles will cheer up his wife, who is an alcoholic. Meanwhile the housekeeper, Milly, secretly loves Sam, and encourages Henrietta's drinking. Sam was transported after he confessed to a killing actually committed by Henrietta, who followed Sam and waited for his release. The novel formed the basis for a 1949 Alfred Hitchcock film.
Author
NOT Helen Simpson short story writer, born 1959. Helen Simpson was an Australian-born writer, who lived in England from the age of 16. She studied music at Oxford, before becoming a novelist, a writer of historical biography, a radio broadcaster and a politician. She joined the 1931 Detection Club, and wrote a chapter for Ask a Policeman 1933. Works: Novels: Acquittal (1925) The Baseless Fabric (1925) Cups, Wands and Swords (1927) Mumbudget (1928) The Desolate House (1929) Enter Sir John (1929)(with Clemence Dane)-filmed as Murder! (1930) by Alfred Hitchcock Printer's Devil (1930)(with Clemence Dane) Vantage Striker (1931) Boomerang (1932), winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize Re-enter Sir John (1932)(with Clemence Dane) The Woman on the Beast (1933) The Spanish Marriage (1933)(with Clemence Dane) Henry VIII (1934)(with Clemence Dane) Saraband for Dead Lovers (1935, produced as a film) The Female Felon (1935) Under Capricorn (1937, produced as a film in 1949) A Woman Among Wild Men (1938)(with Clemence Dane) Maid No More (1940) Plays: Masks (1921) A Man of His Time (1923) The Women's Comedy (1926) Pan in Pimlico (1926) Poetry: Philosophies in Little (1921) Other: The Happy Housewife (1934) Translation: A selection from Louis-Sebastian Mercier's Le Tableau de Paris under the title 'The Waiting City' (1933).
