The lines of demarcation between fact, fiction and faction are no longer as clear-cut as once thought. Agnes (Anya) Rasp, wife of the man who discovered the fabulous silver-rich lodes of Broken Hill, is the victim of a false and malicious story.

This factional biography corrects the damage and weaves an imaginative life story of the pretty and ambitious German waitress whose marriage to one of the founders of BHP endows her with huge wealth and social position. Later, the widowed Agnes Rasp marries a European aristocrat and throughout the dark days of WWI she dreams of returning from Germany as the Countess of Adelaide...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Judith Armstrong has written/edited/translated five previous books. Prior to writing Anya her most recent was The Christesen Romance (MUP 1996), a biography of Nina and Clem Christesen which was short-listed for The Age Book of the Year award.

Previously a Reader in the Department of Germanic Studies and Russian at the University of Melbourne, Judith Armstrong now writes and lectures on a free-lance basis and regularly leads tours in Europe.