Robyn Davidson on time, memory and a life driven by curiosity in 'Unfinished Woman'

Good Reading Podcast

In 1977, twenty-seven-year-old Robyn Davidson set off with a dog and four camels to cross 1,700 miles of Australian desert to the sea. A life of almost constant travelling followed. From the deserts of Australia, to Sydney's underworld; from Sixties street life, to the London literary scene; from migrating with nomads in Tibet, to 'marrying' an Indian prince, Davidson's quest was motivated by an unquenchable curiosity about other ways of seeing and understanding the world. Davidson threw bombs over her shoulder and seeds into her future on the assumption that something would be growing when she got there. The only terrain she had no interest in exploring was the past. In Unfinished Woman Davidson turns at last to explore that long avoided country. Through this brave and revealing memoir, she delves into her childhood and youth to uncover the forces that set her on her path, and confront the cataclysm of her mother's suicide. In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Robyn Davidson about the challenges she faced in writing about her mother, her chaotic early life and relationship with her family, and the enduring curiosity that continues to inspire her nomadic lifestyle.