Arabella Edge

{{Short description|Australian novelist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

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| birth_place = London, England

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| language = English

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| notableworks = The Company

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| awards = Commonwealth Writers' Prize

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| years_active = 1994 –

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Arabella Edge (born in London, England) is a writer and novelist whose first work, The Company, received a 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.[http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A11623 Austlit - Arabella Edge]

Early life

Edge graduated with an English Literature degree from Bristol University. She moved to Sydney, Australia in 1992 and worked as an editor for several consumer illustrated magazines. Her short tales appeared in the literary illustrated magazines Westerly and Ulitarra.{{cite web| title =The Company | publisher =Perry Middlemiss | year =2006 | url =http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/australian/thecompany.html | access-date =2008-11-26 }} In 2002 Edge relocated from Sydney to the small township of Bicheno, Tasmania to work on her second novel.{{cite news| last =Edge |first =Arabella |title =Arabella Edge: My Tasmania | work =The Independent (UK) | publisher =Independent News & media plc | date =2006-04-16 | url =https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ausandpacific/arabella-edge-my-tasmania-474428.html | access-date =2008-11-26 }}

Major works

Her first novel, The Company, was published in 2000 and was a work of historical fiction based around the wreck of the Batavia on its maiden voyage off the Western Australian coast. The book was shortlisted for the 2001 Miles Franklin Award, and won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in the Southeast Asia/South Pacific region.{{cite web|title=Arabella Edge |publisher=Australia Council for the Arts |year=2007 |url=http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/the_arts/artists_and_orgs/artists/arabella_edge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630082527/http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/the_arts/artists_and_orgs/artists/arabella_edge |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-06-30 |access-date=2008-11-26 }}

A second novel, The God of Spring was published in 2005. Also a work of historical fiction, the novel is set during the French Revolution and based on the life of artist Théodore Géricault as he researches and completes his controversial painting, The Raft of the Medusa.{{cite news| last =Hughes |first =Juliette |title =The God of Spring | work =The Sydney Morning Herald | publisher =Fairfax Ltd | date =2005-12-13 | url =http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/the-god-of-spring/2005/12/13/1134236049517.html | access-date =2008-11-26 }}

Her third novel, also historical fiction, is called Fields of Ice and was published in 2011. It follows Lady Jane Franklin and her attempts to raise money to fund a rescue mission for her husband, Sir John Franklin, whose ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were lost while trying to find the North West Passage.{{cite book |last1=Edge |first1=Arabella |title=Fields of Ice |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005WTORN0?ref=dbs_p2d_P_R_popup_yes_pony_T1 |via=Amazon |date=18 October 2011 |publisher=Picador |access-date=6 March 2019}}

Personal life

Edge is married and has one stepdaughter.

Awards

  • 2001 — shortlisted Miles Franklin Award for The Company
  • 2001 — winner Commonwealth Writers' Prize South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best First Book Award for The Company
  • 2001 — winner Herodotus Awards for Historical Mystery, Best International Book Award{{cite web|title=2001 Notable Books |publisher=The Poisoned Pen Awards List |url=http://www.poisonedpen.com/html/awards2001.html |access-date=2007-09-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818120642/http://www.poisonedpen.com/html/awards2001.html |archive-date=2007-08-18 |url-status=live }} for The Company

Selected works

=Novels=

References