In Arabella Thorne, Elizabeth Jolley has created a brilliant, witty and accomplished woman. The exotic tale of this flamboyant eccentric and her European travels - with jealous secretary and shy schoolgirl protegee - is the inheritance that transforms the uneventful life of drab Miss Peabody. ‘Delicately and ironically told.’ Publishers Weekly ‘The savagery of her writing is exhilarating, so is the sharpness of her wit.’ Canberra Times ‘A comic erotic novel of the first order …… Miss Peabody’s Inheritance sets out to upend preconceived notions about gender and sexual attraction.’ Meanjin After its publication in 1983, it was released in France and the United States, and was shortlisted for the National Book Council Award.