Wendy Jenkins, who has died aged 70, took some unpromising typed pages from a pile of unsolicited manuscripts and was immediately captivated
Photograph: Freemantle PressPhotograph: Freemantle PressOne day in 1980 Wendy Jenkins pulled a roughly typed bundle of papers, tied with green and white string, from the submissions pile in her publisher’s office and began reading.
Instead, AB Facey’s A Fortunate Life would become one of Australia’s most enduring literary classics, with more than 1 million copies sold. “I read with growing interest, then excitement, skipping ahead to get a sense of the sweep of the life and to see if the story and voice were sustained. I probably also wanted to know, like the hundreds of thousands of readers after me, what happened to that little boy born in turn-of-last-century Australia into such nation-shaping and difficult times.”
Released on Anzac Day 1981, the simply told memoir recounts Facey’s extraordinary life in which he faces adversity, danger, adventure and loss, his story mirroring dramatic world events and depicting themes of mythical Australia: broken Gallipoli veteran, lost boy in the bush, battler of dingos and snakes, boxer, cattle musterer and ringer.. But his story lived on, reproduced in huge numbers and multiple formats.
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