From Beatrice to Julia

Jacqueline Kent chooses the most interesting biographical subjects. Her first was Beatrice Davis, doyenne of Australian book editors. A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life won the National Biography Award in 2002. Next came An Exacting Heart: The Story of Hephzibah Menuhin (2008). Now we read with interest that she is writing the biography of Julia Gillard, the deputy prime minister.

Why Ms Gillard? ‘Mostly because I have been watching her for ages and find her very interesting,’ Jacqueline Kent told Advances. ‘Her handling of everything is apparently so effortless: what’s going on behind all that equanimity and friendliness? Also, Gillard indicates how far we have and haven’t come in dealing with women in public life. She’s a kind of politician we haven’t had before. She is also the most self-aware and secure and centred woman I have met in a very long time.’