Shortlisted for the Association for the Study of Australian Literature Gold Medal and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards

Highly commended for the FAW Christina Stead Award, the Age Book of the Year and the National Book Council CUB Banjo Awards

Adopted as a baby towards the end of World War II, Robert Dessaix grew up haunted by ‘a shaft of silence’ surrounding the question of his natural mother’s identity, and of his own identity and sexuality. In this touching memoir, he recounts the story of a most unusual childhood on Sydney’s North Shore, of his fascination with Russia and the years he spent studying in Cold War Moscow, and of his restless wanderings around the world.

Praise for A Mother's Disgrace by Robert Dessaix

‘One of the most intelligently moving autobiographical narratives I have ever read. A book that is fascinating, engrossing … And a book that invites challenge.’ The Age

‘A journey of identity by a virtuoso in language and master of narrative control … a brave, moving, funny, enthralling book.’ The Canberra Times

Robert Dessaix is a writer of fiction, autobiography and the occasional essay. From 1985 to 1995, after teaching Russian language and literature for many years at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales, he presented the weekly Books and Writing program on ABC Radio National. In more recent years he has also presented radio series on Australian public intellectuals and great travellers in history, as well as regular programs on language. His best-known books, all translated into several European languages, are his autobiography A Mother's Disgrace; the novels Night Letters and Corfu; a collection of essays and short stories (and so forth); and the travel memoirs Twilight of Love and Arabesques. In 2012 he published the collection of originally spoken pieces As I Was Saying, in 2014 the meditation What Days Are For and, in 2017, a guide to work and play in the twenty-first century, The Pleasures of Leisure. A full-time writer since 1995, Robert lives in Hobart, Tasmania.