Novel
The Well
Elizabeth Jolley · 1986
Synopsis
Hester Harper, who lived alone with her father on a farm for a long time, has taken in a much younger ward, Katherine, to whom she clings jealously. One evening, on a deserted farm road, their off-road vehicle strikes a mysterious creature with its bull bar. The two women throw the body into the deep well on the property, but the injured creature's voice does not fall silent: Katherine thinks she hears voices rising from the well, feels drawn to it, and distances herself from Hester.
Context
The novel appeared in 1986 from Viking, in Australia; its author had published her first book ten years earlier, after receiving thirty-nine rejections from publishers in a single year. The narrative leaves uncertain the nature of what the car struck: an animal, or the intruder who had stolen the money from the house. Samantha Lang brought it to the screen in 1997. Guillemette Belleteste's translation appeared in France in 1998 from Payot et Rivages.
Who it is for
A novel in English, unsettling and deadpan according to its publisher, translated into French under the title Le Puits.
Prizes and reception
Miles Franklin Award and Barbara Ramsden Award in 1986; an Australian classic of the twentieth century according to its publisher.