The House of Fiction by Susan Swingler

If I had read this book during Nonfiction November I would have mentioned it under week 4 - Stranger than fiction. This is a true story of a woman's search for her father and the question why he left her and her mother and broke off all communications. 

"Susan Swingler is the step-daughter of one of Australia's most revered writers - the English-born Elizabeth Jolley. But behind that simple statement is a lifetime of family lies and deceptions that started when Susan's father, Leonard Jolley, left his marriage and four-year-old Susan to make a new life with Elizabeth in Australia. Susan had no inkling of what had happened until she came across perplexing revelations at the age of 21.

The House of Fiction tells the story of Susan's quest to discover the truth about her father. As she traces clues to a better understanding of Leonard, she inadvertently unravels a intricate fiction created by Elizabeth to deceive Leonard's family back in England."

Susan's father left the family when she was four. She rarely heard anything from him. Her mother had nothing to say, and did not even reveal anything of her father's relatives. It was only when she was 21 years old and married, that her aunt and uncle sent her some gifts. She contacted them and when they started talking Susan realised that they thought she had grown up with her father in Australia. He had sent photos and some letter from time to time and they presumed the photos was of her. There she realised that her father had lied to his relatives about his own family situation.

Susan spent the next 40 years looking for answers. The story she tells is amazing, and leads to Australia where he lived with his wife Elizabeth and their three children. The more information she gathers the more peculiar is the case. When she finally makes contact it seems that it is Elizabeth that is writing. It is her version of the story that comes forward. But, is it true, or is she half making it up? She is a famous writer after all, and it seems that some of her novels are partly autobiographical, with some events that could have been taken from real life.

It is a complex story and her quest to find out who her father really is get more and more complicated. Is he the person his biographer Brian Dibble (the biography was never published) says he is? 

"According to Dibble, Leonard displayed the characteristics of a narcissist; he had a grandiose sense of self-importance, believing himself special (no doubt encouraged by his mother's 'spoiling' of him, I though) and demanding of attention; he exploited people (he certainly exploited my mother's generosity of spirit and yet accused her, in a diary entry, of self-absorption), he lacked empathy; he was envious of others; and he was arrogant. Each of these points was expanded by examples, some of which came directly from diary entries. This seemed to me unfair, especially as there were other diary entries that contradicted some of this selfishness and showed a clear-sighted self-knowledge."

It is an amazing story, very well written and Susan Swingler has done a true detective's work. The main characters are no longer alive, so some questions will not have an answer. The strange thing is that the families of both sides were not there when she grew up. As a grown-up, when she starts to look into family ties, she finds a lot of people that she can really love. Is it worth digging to much into the past and people's secrets? Maybe, if you really want to know what happened. It can also reveal things you don't want to know. I think Susan Swingler was pleased with what she discovered, although she did not get all the answers.