---
product_id: 1368482
title: "The Road from Coorain"
brand: "jill ker conway"
price: "₨540"
currency: SCR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.sc/products/1368482-the-road-from-coorain
store_origin: SC
region: Seychelles
---

# The Road from Coorain

**Brand:** jill ker conway
**Price:** ₨540
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Road from Coorain by jill ker conway
- **How much does it cost?** ₨540 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sc](https://www.desertcart.sc/products/1368482-the-road-from-coorain)

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- jill ker conway enthusiasts

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## Description

The Road from Coorain

## Images

![The Road from Coorain - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513nVuv7vzL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Well-Written Story of Growing Up in Australian Society in the Early 20th Century
  

*by S***N on Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2019*

Few things seem further from North America than Australia. Not only is it half-a-world away, but the culture varies dramatically. Conway grew up in the back-country of Australia where she often did not regularly see other families and neighbors were tens-of-miles away. That simple start, told as well as it is in this book, sparks the reader’s interest. The fact that she ended up at Harvard by the end of the book should pique even more interest.Conway details her life in the outback, her transition to a private school in Sydney, and her undergraduate days at the University of Sydney. As such, this memoir is a real-life coming-of-age tale. She describes how she fell in love with the field of history and decided to dedicate her life to being a scholar of women’s history.Her writing style is impressive and entertaining. Not only does she describe things accurately and with a healthy distance, but she also picks interesting details that bring her world alive to the reader. Obviously well-read, she shows the character that brought her from an oppressive environment towards eventually becoming a leader in women’s education.I find personal inspiration from feminists like Conway. Often, men are not encouraged to find their own place in the world like many women (especially ambitious women) are forced to. As such, the narrative of male lives often does not involve the quest for being and existence. However, I find that I, too, have those questions. Conway’s tale gives me some more rungs to hang my experience on, and for that, I am grateful.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Good start, then very judgemental
  

*by D***C on Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2017*

Summary: "Cursed be my intellect, affluence, and robust life experiences because there may never be someone so exceptional as to live up to my image of myself."This one book is many books. It is a remarkable recollection of a young life in Australia. Then, in one of the nine chapters, it takes on a literary bent with brilliant and entertaining use of language. Often, it devolves into segments of self-pity as well as loathing toward others. Does that make it a psychological thriller, a mystery, or a narcissistic treatise? Discuss amongst yourselves and support your ideas, as the scholarly Jill Ker Conway probably charged her students and peers over the years.Psychologically, the reader is presented a person who, through her twenties, couldn't be bothered to hold any work position for any length of time. Whether in law, political administration, fashion, education, or simpler tasks, some aspect of that work was beyond her tolerance. Such attitude is at least partly owed to the affluence that did not require her to work, but that is rarely raised as a factor.The thrilling aspect of the psychological spaghetti in these pages is the roller coaster of angst poured out by the author, with the reader along for the ride. There is family, social, climate, political, historical, and enough other kinds of angst to fill a world's fair. That may be interesting (the angst or the fair), but one tires from a non-stop intake of it.Mysteriously, we learn little depth about any characters surrounding the author other than her father during her astounding telling of early years on the Australian prairie, and of her mother as the anchor (with both good and bad meanings inferred) of her life. There are rarely more than brief mentions of others and name-dropping lists; nary a vignette to develop surrounding characters.I relished the onsetting story set in the unfamiliar Antipodal pastoral land to which the first four chapters were devoted. I was thrilled by bits of artfully-crafted phrasing through that section, which then flourished in most of chapter five and made me feel I was on a journey through life that was discovering literary potential just as it might have evolved for the young lass as her life shifted toward education.Yet by the end of chapter five to the final pages, the clarion call was that of the prototypical picture of the opera singer in preparation for a performance: "Me, me, me; Me, Me, Me!; Me, Me, ME!!" There was sound and fury but too little substance and story to mold a truly interesting tale despite the litany of subject matter that was mentioned.Many readers will enjoy this exploration of soul by commentary. The author presents herself as an interesting character. I might have enjoyed the effort had there been more introspection and less outwardly-focused criticism. There were times when I was ready to recommend this work to a teenage relative in the United States, that she might appreciate another kind of life in another part of the world, presented by someone of intellect. Such desire was not there by the end of the book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A Beautifully Written Memoir ...
  

*by D***2 on Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2014*

Jill Ker Conway’s autobiography, “The Road From Coorain”, is a beautifully written memoir.  The flow of the narrative and the broad vocabulary used throughout the book are exquisite.  Although the impact of her life story is sometimes slowed by her mother's wants and needs, these experiences helped shape Conway and, as such, are an integral part of her story.Detailing her life growing up in the Australian outback during the second third of the twentieth century, Conway is able to draw the reader into that era.  The beauty of the landscape and the harsh reality of the elements, the economic cycles, and the psychological impact on both men and women of these influences are vividly described.  The elitism and the class differences between landed individuals and those who managed or worked on the stations become evident as the Conway family’s fortunes roller coaster between wealth and economic hardship.Societal attitudes toward women’s roles and acceptable occupations could have discouraged Conway from ever progressing.  However, Jill Ker Conway’s intellectual strength, coupled with her work ethic, propelled her beyond those roles accepted and available to women in the mid-twentieth century to becoming a university professor and eventually president of Smith College.Today’s young women may view much of “The Road From Coorain” as ancient history.  Women who came of age in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s may remember or may have experienced situations similar to those Conway encountered.  All will be inspired by and amazed at Jill Ker Conway’s life and accomplishments.

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*Product available on Desertcart Seychelles*
*Store origin: SC*
*Last updated: 2026-03-02*