AUTHOR TALK: Dina Davis with Susannah Fullerton. Review by Susan Beinart

On 3 February 2019, Waverley Library Theatrette
resounded with the voices of Dina Davis in
conversation with Susannah Fullerton, at the Sydney
launch of Dina’s début work, Capriccio: A Novel. This
novel was inspired by the lives of Assia Wevill, Ted
Hughes and Sylvia Plath. This roman à clef covers the love-triangle that played out between these three poets, highlighting, for the first time, Wevill’s role in this fascinating tale.

Fullerton, well known at Library events for her deep knowledge of Jane Austen and other historical writers, asked Davis probing questions about Capriccio: A Novel. Davis answered Fullerton’s questions with passion and honesty. The conversation flowed and the audience was riveted. We learned much about Capriccio: A Novel, including that Davis wrote it with commitment, partly because she felt passionate about the single-mother plight of Wevill, who had, apart from a biography, thus far escaped literary interest. No longer. This fine novel will surely provoke more interest in Wevill, who is known as ‘Esther’ in the book. Names of all the protagonists were changed at the request of the Hughes Estate.

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Adapted from Friends of the Waverley Library Newsletter, SPRING 2019