120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Overnight NZ-wide delivery πŸš€ Auckland Bookstore β€’ Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

The Recluse

3.08 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 12 ratings, 4 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The biography The Recluse by Evelyn Juers delves into the mysterious and isolated life of Eliza Emily Donnithorne, an Australian woman rumoured to have inspired Charles Dickens's character Miss Havisham. The book explores her reclusive existence in 19th-century Sydney, offering insights into societal norms and personal struggles of the era. Through meticulously researched details, Juers paints a vivid picture of Donnithorne's enigmatic life while examining themes of solitude and societal expectations.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2999
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you are fascinated by lives lived away from the public eye, appreciate introspective narratives, and are drawn to stories that delve into the complexities of solitude and artistic expression. Through captivating storytelling, it offers a reflective exploration of a secluded life, making it a compelling read for those intrigued by personal journeys and the intricacies of human nature.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Evelyn Juers's study of reclusion focuses on Eliza Emily Donnithorne, long considered the model for Charles Dickens's character Miss Havisham in Great Expectations The Recluse is the story of Juers' quest to find the elusive Eliza Donnithorne, who was born in South Africa, and lived in India, England and Australia. Like House of Exile

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Evelyn Juers's study of reclusion focuses on Eliza Emily Donnithorne, long considered the model for Charles Dickens' character Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. For most of her life, she lived in isolation in a large house in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown. It was said that she had been jilted at the altar and become a recluse, wearing her wedding dress and keeping her wedding banquet set until the day she died. But who was she?

The Recluse is the story of Juers' quest to find the elusive Eliza Donnithorne, who was born in South Africa, and lived in India, England, and Australia. Like House of Exile, it features a cast of colourful historical characters, including authors, convicts, sailors and servants, journalists, and bloggers. The book makes a powerful case for solitude as a dignified way of life.

Series: Giramondo Shorts

View all
  • The Recluse
    Evelyn Juers's study of reclusion focuses on Eliza Emily Donnithorne, long considered the model for Charles Dickens' character Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. For most of her life, she lived in isolation in a large house in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown. It was said that she had been jilted at the altar and become a recluse, wearing her wedding...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Wild and Woolley
    Wild and Woolley - A Publishing Memoir is Wilding's rollicking account of those heady bohemian years in the 1970s and 80s, charting the growth, the experiments, and the development of this innovative small press against a background of social upheaval and cultural change in Australia. It is peppered with irreverent anecdotes and details - their publication of the best-selling manual...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Anguli Ma
    Chi Vu takes the central figure in a traditional Buddhist folktale, a deranged killer who wears his victims' fingers in a garland around his neck, and turns him into a menacing abbatoir worker who carries bloody chunks of meat home to his lodgings in plastic bags. Set in 1980s Melbourne, when the flight of Vietnamese refugees to Australia was at...
    By Chi Vu
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Wildlife
    Weinberger's essays are like encyclopaedias in miniature, crammed with curious details that make you wonder at the strangeness of creation, and the ability of humans to make it even stranger. Wildlife is a collection which celebrates birds and fish, dogs and flies, ticks and mole-rats, and those two legendary creatures the tiger and the rhinocerosβ€”both highly prized, both now almost...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781920882884

Publisher: Giramondo Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 May 2012

Country: Australia

Imprint: Giramondo Publishing Co

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 150.0mm

Height: 170.0mm

Weight: 250g

Also by Evelyn Juers

View all
  • House of Exile
    In 1933, the author and activist Heinrich Mann and his partner Nelly Kroeger fled Nazi Germany, finding refuge first in the south of France and later, in great despair, in Los Angeles. Nelly committed suicide in 1944, and Heinrich died in 1950. Born into a wealthy middle-class family in LΓΌbeck, Heinrich was one of the leading representatives of Weimar culture....
    Paperback
    $3999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Dancer
    The new book by prize-winning biographer Evelyn Juers, author of The House of Exile and The Recluse, portrays the life and background of a pioneering Australian dancer who died at the age of twenty-five in a remote town in India. A uniquely talented dancer and choreographer, Philippa Cullen grew up in Australia in the 1950s and 60s. In the 1970s,...
    Paperback
    $4499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Biography & Memoir

View all
  • Book cover for 'Swan Song: Diana, my sister' by Charles Spencer, featuring a black-and-white portrait of Diana with white and gold text on a gray background.
    New Release
    Swan Song
    Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted. The extraordinary life and death of Diana, as told by her brother, Charles – available to pre-order now. β€˜When asked, β€˜What was it like, growing up with Diana?’, my first thought is always, But I don’t know what it was like not to grow up with her…’ In September 1997, Charles Spencer stood in Westminster Abbey before...
    Hardback
    $5499
    Elsewhere:
    $6500
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Fictional Selves
    From the beloved actor and star of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Sex and the City comes a candid and deeply personal memoir. In this highly anticipated memoir, the beloved actor and star of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Sex and the City and more shares his utterly original account of his offbeat journey in Hollywood, his battles with fear and...
    Hardback
    $4799
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Steps
    The long-awaited memoir from a true Hollywood icon. We know Sylvester Stallone as one of the most revered actors, writers, and directors of all time, yet his life story is every bit as dramatic, intense, and inspiring as his greatest creations on screen. Bringing together a no-holds-barred account of a fascinating life with messages of hope, positivity, and resilience, in...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Signed Copy
    New Release
    Home Again
    Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoirΒ Home Again.This is more than a rock story.Β Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it.Β From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Dogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About
    From the social media superstar behind @SimonSits, Isabel Klee--known for her heartwarming tales of dog rescue--comes an utterly winning memoir about a twentysomething woman's search for true love in New York City and the dogs who helped her find it. A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Famesick
    Chronicling the tumultuous decade between the premiere of Girls to her 2021 shotgunΒ wedding (minus the baby, because she has no uterus), Lena Dunham takes us through herΒ journey with her trademark mix of humor, unsparing honesty, and keen eye for detail. We peek behind the scenes - of her work, her family, her relationships, and her battle to reclaim her body...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    Hardback
    $7299
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Signed Copy
    Stakes
    Read our interview with author Noelle McCarthy! A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the author’s bestselling memoirΒ Grand. You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampire’s badness in the house with you. Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram Stoker’sΒ Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Built for This
    Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Even the Good Girls Will Cry
    Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a fan letter to a P.O. box, Melissa Auf der Maur's first band scored an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins in her bohemian home town, Montreal. Sensing Melissa's talent, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love. Whisked from her local scene, Melissa joined Hole just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • An Ocean and a Day
    An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who's ever lost someone they love. An Ocean and a Day is Hannah Richell's personal account of losing her husband, Matt, in a surfing accident on Tamarama beach in 2014. It is the story of the grief journey she travelled over the first two...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • A Place to Stand
    A Place to Stand by Clare Ward is a profound memoir that delves into the life of a country doctor living and working in the Hokianga Harbour area in the far north of Aotearoa New Zealand. This region is sparsely populated and poses numerous health challenges. This thoughtful account details Clare’s thirty-year career, highlighting the people she works with and...
    Hardback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.