author
Edric Glenfield
A little-known Australian novelist from the late 19th century, remembered for a boldly topical story about working women, social reform, and life during a time of labor unrest in Sydney. The surviving record is thin, which gives the book an added sense of rediscovery.
1 Audiobook
On Strike, or, Where do the Girls come in?
by Edric Glenfield
About the author
Very little biographical information about this author is easy to confirm today. What can be verified is that Edric Glenfield is credited with the 1890 Sydney publication On Strike, or, Where do the Girls come in?, issued by Gibbs, Shallard & Co. and dedicated "to all his Australian sisters."
That novel places Glenfield in the world of late-19th-century Australian writing and social debate. The story engages directly with women's working lives and labor politics, using fiction to explore questions of fairness, dignity, and reform during a period of industrial unrest.
Because so few reliable personal details appear in widely accessible sources, Glenfield is best approached through the work itself. For modern listeners, that can be part of the appeal: an uncommon voice from colonial Australia, speaking with surprising energy about gender, class, and social change.