''Lucinda Brayford'' (1946) is a novel by Australian author

Martin Boyd Martin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 – 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born into the à Beckett–Boyd family, a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th ...

Plot summary

This is the story of a beautiful woman set mainly in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria and England, from the early 1900s to the Second World War. Lucinda Vane is born into a wealthy Melbourne family.

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...

appears in the novel, singing at a garden party thrown by Lucinda's mother, and is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world". Lucinda spurns the love of a distinguished family friend, Tony Duff, to marry the dashing aide-de-camp to the Governor, Hugo Brayford. Lucinda's life of ease is replaced by hardship when Hugo takes her to England just before the First World War. She then realises that her husband has married her for her money, and he has a mistress.

Adaptations

This novel was adapted for a television mini-series in 1980, produced by

Oscar Whitbread Oscar Ralph Whitbread (26 November 1929 – 16 May 2016) was an English-Australian producer who worked extensively in television. He moved to Australia in the late 1940s. Whitbread started his career at the ABC in 1956, where he served as the ...

and directed by John Gauci, from a screenplay by Cliff Green, featuring Wendy Hughes as Lucinda, and

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. His career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile acto ...

as Tony Duff.IMDB
/ref>Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996, p.202 BBC Radio broadcast a dramatisation by Elspeth Sandys in 2005, 2020, and 2025.

Cast

* Wendy Hughes as Lucinda Brayford *

as Tony Duff * Barry Quin as Hugo Brayford * Carol Burns as Carol Burns * Edmund Pegge at Pat Lafranc

References

Novels by Martin Boyd 1946 Australian novels Novels set in Melbourne Australian novels adapted into television shows Cultural depictions of Nellie Melba Cresset Press books {{1940s-novel-stub