Arabella Edge (born in London, England) is a writer and novelist whose first work, ''The Company'', received a 2001

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

and was shortlisted for the

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

Early life

Edge graduated with an English Literature degree from

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. She moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia in 1992 and worked as an editor for several consumer illustrated magazines. Her short tales appeared in the literary illustrated magazines ''Westerly'' and ''Ulitarra.'' In 2002 Edge relocated from Sydney to the small township of

Bicheno, Tasmania Bicheno is a locality and town on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 185 km north-east of Hobart on the Tasman Highway, with a population of around 950. It is part of the municipality of Glamorgan-Spring Bay. The town is primarily a ...

to work on her second novel.

Major works

Her first novel, ''The Company'', was published in 2000 and was a work of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

based around the wreck of the ''Batavia'' on its maiden voyage off the Western Australian coast. The book was shortlisted for the 2001 Miles Franklin Award, and won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in the Southeast Asia/South Pacific region. A second novel, ''The God of Spring'' was published in 2005. Also a work of historical fiction, the novel is set during the French Revolution and based on the life of artist Théodore Géricault as he researches and completes his controversial painting, ''

The Raft of the Medusa ''The Raft of the Medusa'' (french: Le Radeau de la Méduse ) – originally titled ''Scène de Naufrage'' (''Shipwreck Scene'') – is an oil painting of 1818–19 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791� ...

''. Her third novel, also historical fiction, is called ''Fields of Ice'' and was published in 2011. It follows

Lady Jane Franklin Jane, Lady Franklin (née Griffin; 4 December 1791 – 18 July 1875) was the second wife of the English explorer Sir John Franklin. During her husband's period as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, she became known for her philanthropic ...

and her attempts to raise money to fund a rescue mission for her husband, Sir John Franklin, whose ships HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror'' were lost while trying to find the

North West Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

Personal life

Edge is married and has one stepdaughter.

Awards

* 2001 — shortlisted

for ''The Company'' * 2001 — winner

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best First Book Award for ''The Company'' * 2001 — winner Herodotus Awards for Historical Mystery, Best International Book Award for ''The Company''

Selected works

Novels

*''The Company: The Story of a Murderer'' (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) *''The God of Spring'' (

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

) aka ''The Raft'' * ''Fields of Ice'' (

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edge, Arabella Year of birth missing (living people) Australian women novelists Living people English emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers