Gothic Australian ‘masterpiece’ finds new life at Virago
Virago has acquired a prize-winning, Gothic Australian “masterpiece”, The Well by Elizabeth Jolley, for its modern classics list.
Editorial director Olivia Barber acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding ANZ) from Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates, on behalf of Jenny Darling & Associates. The Well will be published on 24th September 2026 in paperback and e-book, with a new introduction by bestselling novelist Alice Slater.
Set on a remote Australian farm, The Well centres on the claustrophobic relationship between two women: eccentric, middle-aged Hester and Katherine, the volatile young woman she brings into her isolated existence.
The blurb goes on: “Together they run the farm, sew, cook gourmet meals for two (and throw away the dirty dishes) and indulge in daydreams of a more glamorous life. Then one night, driving home along the deserted track, they hit a creature in the darkness. They heave the body into the farm’s deep well, where Hester knows it will never be found. But Katherine, drawn closer and closer to the edge of the well, begins to hear the voice of the injured intruder…”
Elizabeth Jolley (1923-2007) was born in England to a strict, German-speaking family but moved to Western Australia in 1959, where she became a critically acclaimed and bestselling author in her 50s; The Well won Australia’s most prestigious writing prize, the Miles Franklin Award, in 1986. Helen Garner, her long-time friend and correspondent, has described her as “one of our most daring writers” and her creative writing students at Curtin University included Tim Winton.
Barber said: “Shimmering with haunting strangeness, The Well manages to blend Gothic horror, a razor-sharp portrait of loneliness and obsession, repressed queer desire and black humour into an exquisitely taut novel. Imagine if Shirley Jackson wrote The Dry, and you’ll have a glimpse of the addictive, disturbing and poignant power of Jolley’s novel – I was utterly possessed.”
