Richardson, Henry Handel (1870-1946), was the pen name of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, one of the greatest novelists in Australian literature. Richardson treated themes of universal interest at a time when nationalist themes were prevalent in Australian literature. She used carefully selected detail to build up convincing characters and scenes.
Richardson’s best-known work is “The Fortunes of Richard Mahony,” a trilogy consisting of Australia Felix (1917), The Way Home (1925), and Ultima Thule (1929). The novels tell the story of immigrant Richard Mahony, who travels to Australia during the gold rushes of the 1850’s but always remains at odds with himself and his environment. The trilogy describes his rise to a position of prosperity and security as a doctor, his anguished search for meaning in his life (including an unsuccessful return to live in England), his loss of money, and his final breakdown. Mahony’s story has many parallels with that of Richardson’s father, and she drew on family letters while writing the novels. The Getting of Wisdom (1910) is a more comic and satirical novel. Her last novel was Young Cosima (1939), which explored the romantic triangle among German composer Richard Wagner, German conductor Hans von Bulow, and Cosima Liszt. Richardson’s short stories were collected in The End of a Childhood (1934). She also wrote an unfinished autobiography, Myself When Young (published in 1948, after her death).
Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson was born on Jan. 3, 1870, in Melbourne. She was the eldest daughter of Walter Lindesay Richardson, an Irish doctor. She was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Melbourne. At the age of 17, she went to Leipzig, Germany, to study as a pianist, which influenced her to include musical themes in her fiction. She spent the rest of her life abroad. Richardson’s first novel, Maurice Guest (1908), recreates the lives of music students in Leipzig. It describes a young English pianist’s obsessive love for an Australian girl and its tragic outcome. In 1895, Richardson married J. G. Robertson, a Scottish academic. Richardson died on March 20, 1946.
