Night Bookers' Book Club's Discussion of The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway

The group had an interesting discussion about this book. Some liked the descriptions of the Australian outback. Others hated that part of the book, and preferred the parts that described Jill's interaction with her family. This book is a memoir of Jill Ker Conway's childhood to adulthood in the outback, to her decision to leave the outback for America. Everyone felt she was burdened when she so young. She lost her father in a suicide when she was a little girl, during the great drought when all the sheep on their farm died. Then, when she was a teenager, she lost her brother in a car accident. These incidents were never discussed in the family. Her mother was able to cope with the father's death, but fell apart more with her son's death. Jill had a hard time being so smart in the 1950's. She was unable to find a job when she graduated college because she was a woman, even though she was one of the top of her class. People felt she was like her mother, and that she was wrote coldly, stoically, and intellectually. They group agreed she had to leave her mother and Australia to save herself. Eventually, Jill became the first woman president of Smith College. The group had a thought-provoking discussion about this strong woman.