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The Getting of Wisdom (1910) is a novel by Henry Handel Richardson. Based on her experiences at Melbourne's Presbyterian Ladies' College, The Getting of Wisdom is a coming-of-age novel aimed at a young audience. Engaged with such themes as grief, bullying, and peer-pressure, Richardson's novel is a powerful story of a young girl finding her way in the world. An instant bestseller, the novel has never gone out of print. "Laura went into her own room and locked the door, a thing Mother did not allow. Then she threw herself on the bed and cried. Mother had not understood in the least..." Punished for cutting her own hair without permission, Laura Tweedle Rambotham defies her mother once more. Alone in her room, she begins to think about her mother's words, letting them sink in until the truth can no longer be denied. In the morning, she leaves for The Ladies' College, a boarding school far from family and friends-and in Melbourne, no less, a city she has never been to. Scared, nervous, and tired, she drifts off to sleep in her childhood room for the last time. Heartfelt and deeply personal, The Getting of Wisdom is a powerful coming-of-age story from one of Australia's best-loved writers.
Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.
With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.
About the author
Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, known by her literary name Henry Handel Richardson, was an Australian author. Ethel Florence (who liked to be known as Et, Ettie, or Etta) was the eldest daughter of Walter Lindesay Richardson MD and his wife Mary (née Bailey). She was born in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, into a rich family that later struggled financially. Throughout Richardson's childhood and youth, the family moved about Victoria. These included Chiltern, Queenscliff, Koroit, and Maldon, where Richardson's mother was a postmistress (her father died of syphilis when she was nine). The Richardsons' home in Chiltern, "Lake View," is now held by the National Trust and open to the public. Richardson left Maldon in 1883 to become a boarder at Presbyterian Ladies' College (PLC) in Melbourne, where she studied from the ages of 13 to 17. H. G. Wells appreciated the coming-of-age novel The Getting of Wisdom, which was inspired by this experience. At PLC, she began to hone her ability to blend fact and fiction convincingly, a technique she later employed to great effect in her novels.
Summary
The Getting of Wisdom (1910) is a novel by Henry Handel Richardson. Based on her experiences at Melbourne’s Presbyterian Ladies’ College, The Getting of Wisdom is a coming-of-age novel aimed at a young audience. Engaged with such themes as grief, bullying, and peer-pressure, Richardson’s novel is a powerful story of a young girl finding her way in the world. An instant bestseller, the novel has never gone out of print. “Laura went into her own room and locked the door, a thing Mother did not allow. Then she threw herself on the bed and cried. Mother had not understood in the least…” Punished for cutting her own hair without permission, Laura Tweedle Rambotham defies her mother once more. Alone in her room, she begins to think about her mother’s words, letting them sink in until the truth can no longer be denied. In the morning, she leaves for The Ladies’ College, a boarding school far from family and friends—and in Melbourne, no less, a city she has never been to. Scared, nervous, and tired, she drifts off to sleep in her childhood room for the last time. Heartfelt and deeply personal, The Getting of Wisdom is a powerful coming-of-age story from one of Australia’s best-loved writers.Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.
