Bibliograph

Eugenia, a man, Suzanne Falkiner

Type

Label

Eugenia, a man, Suzanne Falkiner

Language

eng

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Eugenia

Responsibility statement

Suzanne Falkiner

Sub title

a man

Summary

In the spring of 1917 an apprentice from the Cumberland Paper Mills, just outside Sydney, was walking along a bush track beside the Lane Cove River when he discovered the partially burnt body of an unidentified woman. The arrest three years later of a 45-year-old Italian, Eugenia Falleni, for murder, led to an investigation that fascinated Australia. Known in the newspapers as the 'Man-Woman Case', the trial revealed that from the time she had left New Zealand and gone to sea as a cabin boy, Eugenia Falleni had lived at least twenty years of her life in the guise of a man. Suzanne Falkiner has written a remarkable story that follows the course of her own efforts to accurately reconstruct Eugenia's extraordinary life, and provides an intriguing account of her subsequent trial. Exploring questions never able to be answered at the time, the author also examines the plight of working-class migrant women, and reveals some of the secrets of a transgendered existence in an era when leading such a life was dangerous and unacceptable. This updated edition includes new information that has come to light since first publication in 1988

Target audience

adult

Classification