First published: London : Hurst & Blackett, 1864.

Until now, Ella Norman has been unknown in Australia. Not one copy of the original edition is held in any major library.

First published in 1864 in London Ella Norman is the tale of a young woman whose family’s sudden impoverishment leads them to seek opportunities in the much-trumpeted Eldorado in of the time, Australia.

Elizabeth Murray portrays the emergent style of Australian women, assertive, independent, already able to run farms and businesses, and working women who had thrown off the class-ridden attitudes of their home countries, and blitherly moved up, down or across the social barriers.

Ella Norman is an important discovery in Australian literature; this edition includes a foreword by the Governor of Victoria, His Excellency Sir Brian Murray, the author’s great-grandson; and lengthy newspaper reviews of the book on its first appearance.

(from dustcover).