Lucinda Brayford

Lucinda Brayford (1946) chronicles three generations of an Anglo-Australian family around the turn of the twentieth century and contrasts both Australian and English societies. At the same time, the book is a sensitive study of one woman's life. Lucinda's family, originally arriving in Australia in disgrace, become wealthy though farming, eventually owning a magnificent house in Toorak where the cream of Melbourne society gathers for social events. Lucinda meets Captain Hugo Brayford and they marry and leave for England where her marriage fails. A life of ease and wealth in Melbourne is replaced by hardship and austerity in wartime England. Some of the anti-authoritarianism and pacifism that emerged from Martin Boyd's experiences in World War I can be seen in this book, considered by some to be his finest work.