This is the opening that I originally wrote for my essay on Carys Davies’ The Mission House. It was an exercise in bringing the personal to bear on the ideas of the essay, and it reads nicely, but ultimately it felt too long a long preamble — and I agree with the writing tutor who once told Helen Garner that an essay should begin “without bullshit preamble”. So, and alas, it got cut from the final draft.
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