The Eye of the Storm

By: Patrick White

Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein

Elizabeth Hunter, an ex-socialite in her 80s, has a mystical experience during a summer storm in Sydney which transforms all her relationships – her existence becomes charged with a meaning which communicates itself to those around her.

From this simple scenario, Patrick White unfurls a monumental exploration of the tides of love and hate, comedy and tragedy, impotence and longing that fester within family relationships.

In the Sydney suburb of Centennial Park, three nurses, a housekeeper and a solicitor attend to Elizabeth, as her son and daughter convene at her deathbed. But, in death as in life, Elizabeth remains a destructive force on those who surround her.

©1973 Patrick White. Originally published by Jonathan Cape. (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'Beautiful and heroic ... Every passage merits attention and gives satisfaction.' (The New York Times Book Review)

'The Eye of the Storm [is] an intensely dramatic masterpiece.' (The Australian)

'In his major postwar novels, the pain and earnestness of the individual's quest for ''meaning and design'' can be felt more intensely than perhaps anywhere else in contemporary Western prose.' (The Sunday Times (London))

very tedious!

Hard to follow, No likable characters. performer had a constant agitated voice! Not enjoyable.