Helen Garner

Helen Garner is the most interesting character that is revealed in The First Stone because of her language techniques and her unique way of writing. It is a non-fiction text, very personal, (as we only hear Garner’s point of view) honest and frank. The novel was extremely controversial, particularly as Garner is a “pioneering feminist”, and her way of writing the book goes against all ideas and beliefs of feminism and being a feminist. …

…Garner tells the reader “don’t explain everything – leave holes.” Garner clearly takes herself as an author quite seriously, when she says “one thing authorship means a loss of control… the text belongs to public life, creating different meanings.” This shows that Garner did not take writing her book for granted, that she tried to talk to every person that was relevant, and wrote down what she found out and her thoughts about her discoveries.