Probably you can’t. Or maybe you can. Michelle Dicinoski has considered this question and has (almost) found the answer in her memoir “Ghost Wife”. I’ll be reading at the launch which is a great honour. Why it’s this coming Friday 8 March. Are you coming? You should be.
Michelle is a very fine poet, who I have had the pleasure of encountering via the amazing Queensland Poetry Festival. I’m looking forward to reading this memoir of her experiences as a “ghost wife”, someone who has found her love, yet found herself outside of the legal boundaries that validate and recognise that relationship. It’s an issue dear to my heart.
I’d like to encourage you to come to the launch. But I can’t because it’s so popular it’s all solded out. Here’s what the event page says to you:
Michelle Dicinoski has found the love of her life, and now she just wants to get married and live happily ever after. The only problem is, she’s in love with an American woman, Heather, and neither Australia nor America recognises same-sex marriage. What to do when love and the law collide? For Michelle, the answer is clear: go to Canada and get hitched there.
Ghost Wife is the deep, funny, heartwarming and brave story of that trip. Along the way, Michelle reflects on why anyone would want to get married anyway, on the power of acceptance, and on the startling stories she uncovers in her family’s past. She investigates the hidden worlds of people who live their lives outside social norms, sometimes illegally. Michelle doesn’t want to disappear, not from her family and not from society. But living in Australia, will she always be a ghost wife?
‘Ghost Wife is a revelation in every sense of the word. It not only illuminates the struggle for equal marriage in the most intimate possible way, but also tenderly examines the meaning of love and commitment. Insightful, supple and gorgeously written, this book left me humbled and moved.’ Benjamin Law
‘The story of two young women who love each other, Ghost Wife makes their love visible and uncovers the lives of hidden lovers on the two continents over which they travel. Moving, irresistible and new, this memoir will inspire readers to honour all that is hidden in the past – and within ourselves.’ Gloria Steinem
Pop into Avid and pick yourself up a copy or check it out online.
eleanor j jackson 