Deirdre Cash (1924 – 11 March 1963) was an Australian novelist and

torch singer A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affecte ...

, who wrote under the pseudonym Criena Rohan. Her first novel, ''The Delinquents'', set in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, was described as a "back-street ''Tristan and Isolde''".

Background

Deirdre Cash was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

into an

Irish-Australian Irish Australians ( ga, Gael-Astrálaigh) are an ethnic group of Australians, Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the Ireland, island of Ireland. Irish Australians ...

Catholic family. Her father Leo Evaristus Cash, a salesman, had been active in the 1930s New Theatre movement in Melbourne, while her mother Valerie (née Walsh) was an operetta singer. Her parents separated when Valerie and her younger brother were still young. They were brought up by relatives in

Calca, South Australia Calca is a small township around south-east of Streaky Bay, on the southern border of the Calpatanna Waterhole Conservation Park, Eyre Peninsula. The land was occupied by James Baird (for whom nearby Baird Bay was named), calling it "Kolka" ...

and then by unmarried aunts in Melbourne.

Education and singing

Deirdre boarded at the Convent of Mercy,

Mornington, Victoria Mornington is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mornington recorded a populatio ...

. After matriculating, Deirdre enrolled at what became the Melba Conservatorium of Music. On 4 February 1948, she married Michael Damian Blackall, a law student, but left her husband and young son to earn a living as a torch singer and teacher of ballroom dancing in Melbourne. She remarried in 1956, to a coastal seaman, Otto Ole Distler Olsen, with whom she lived at various ports.

Writing

Cash turned to full-time writing after a bout of illness. Her first book ''The Delinquents'' (1962), set in

, was published in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

under the pseudonym Criena Rohan. It was well-received in the London press: the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' called Lola's characterization "a triumph". In 1989 the book was turned into a teenage cult

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, directed by Chris Thomson and starring

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

and

Charlie Schlatter Charles Thomas "Charlie" Schlatter (born May 1, 1966) is an American actor who has appeared in several films and television series. He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Jesse Travis, the resident student of Dr. Mark Sloan (played by Dick Van ...

. According to a recent literary history of Queensland, the novel was "of a tradition of critical social realism... largely absent from 'home-grown' Brisbane writing in the postwar decades." It notes "the crisp authenticity of the dialogue". The novel was reissued in 2014 by a Melbourne publisher, with an introduction by the fellow Australian novelist

Nick Earls Nicholas Francis Ward Earls (born 8 October 1963) is a novelist from Brisbane, Australia, who writes humorous popular fiction about everyday life. The majority of his novels are set in his home town of Brisbane. He fronted a major Brisbane tour ...

.Text Publishin

The introduction can be read online
Retrieved 17 October 2015
/ref> Cash published her second novel ''Down by the Dockside'', set in Melbourne, in 1963. A possible third work in manuscript, ''The House with the Golden Door'', has never been found. She died of

colonic carcinoma Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

in Melbourne on 11 March 1963, aged 38, leaving a husband, a daughter by her second marriage, and a son by her first.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cash, Deirdre 1924 births 1963 deaths Australian people of Irish descent Australian women novelists People from Melbourne 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian novelists