Stead, Christina

1902–83, Australian novelist, b. Rockdale, New South Wales. She worked in the United States in the 1940s, emigrated to England in 1953, then returned to Australia in 1974. Her novels, written in the distinctive language of the interior monologist, treat the problem of evil, particularly the destruction wrought by human obsessions. In addition to The Man Who Loved Children (1940), her masterpiece, her novels include Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934), the autobiographical For Love Alone (1944), A Little Tea, A Little Chat (1948), The Little Hotel (1975) Miss Herbert (The Suburban Wife) (1976), and the posthumous I'm Dying Laughing (1987). Stead also wrote novellas, short stories, and essays.

See Christina Stead: A Biography (1994) by H. Rowley; studies by J. Lidoff (1982), D. Brydon (1987), and S. Sheridan (1988).