Between me and myself : a memoir of murder, desire & the struggle to be free
Willson, Sandra2022
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On 29 April 1959, Sandra Willson, a twenty-year-old trainee psychiatric nurse from Paddington, devastated by the break-up of her relationship with her female lover, left her home and hailed a taxi. Asking the driver to take her to a remote location on the coast near Cronulla, she waited until he had stopped to consult a map and then shot him in the back of the head. Found not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity and sentenced to detention at the 'Governor's Pleasure', Willson spent the next seventeen years in prison and psychiatric hospitals, becoming the longest-serving woman prisoner in NSW. Her memoir, largely written in prison and now published for the first time, describes the events leading up to the shooting, the day itself and the years of incarceration that followed. Raw, compelling, Between Me and Myself is a fascinating insight into life on the social margins of post-war Sydney, an indictment of the justice system's treatment of gay women, and a tragic story of abuse, mental illness, desire and repression.
Main title:
Between me and myself : a memoir of murder, desire & the struggle to be free / by Sandra Willson ; edited by Rebecca Jennings.
Author:
Willson, Sandra, authorJennings, Rebecca (Gender historian), editor
Imprint:
Melbourne, VIC : Text Publishing, 2022.©2022
Collation:
xxiii, 300 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), portraits (some colour) ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN:
97819223301169781922330116
Dewey class:
364.1523092364.152
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
410434
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandringham Library | Adult Non Fiction - Biography | 364.152 WIL | Available |