The Well by Elizabeth Jolley
"The Well" by Elizabeth Jolley is a novel that explores themes of isolation, obsession, and the complexities of female relationships through the story of Hester Harper and her ward, Katherine. Set against the backdrop of rural Australia, the narrative begins when Hester, a once-respected farmer, takes in the orphaned Katherine, saving her from a convent orphanage. Their relationship deepens into an intense bond filled with domestic pleasures, creativity, and fantasy, but it is also marked by Hester’s growing jealousy and fear of losing Katherine to the outside world, particularly to a friend from Katherine's past, Joanna.
As the story unfolds, a pivotal incident occurs when Katherine and Hester accidentally hit something on the road, leading to a series of drastic decisions that bring hidden desires and past traumas to the surface. The well on their property becomes a significant symbol, representing both their repressed emotions and the darker aspects of their relationship. The novel intricately examines the intersection of love, jealousy, and the struggle for independence, all while highlighting the emotional turbulence of its characters. Readers are invited to delve into this multi-layered narrative that challenges conventional notions of friendship and familial bonds, making it a thought-provoking read for those interested in contemporary women’s literature.
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The Well by Elizabeth Jolley
First published: 1986
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: Six years during the 1980’s
Locale: Rural Western Australia
Principal characters
Hester Harper , an emotionally starved middle-age womanKatherine , a teenage orphan taken in by HesterMr. Bird , manager of Hester’s financesMr. Harper , Hester’s fatherMr. andMrs. Borden , buyers of Hester’s farmHilde Herzfeld , young Hester’s governessJoanna , Katherine’s friend
The Story:
A young Katherine is driving home with Hester Harper after a party. They hit something on the road, but Hester says it is not a kangaroo. They dispose of the dead thing in their well at home.
Six years earlier, Hester, who is respected in town for her farming knowledge and her business acumen, brings fifteen-year-old Katherine home to the wealthy Harper farm. The orphan girl, living with Mrs. Grossman, a local shop owner, had faced return to the convent orphanage, but Hester had stepped in before she was brought there.
After her own father’s death, Hester increasingly neglects the business of farming and concentrates on pleasurable domestic, creative, and expensive activities with Katherine. Hester ignores the sound advice of her father’s friend, Mr. Bird, and continues to spend money. Four years after bringing Katherine home, she has to send her farm workers away and rent the farm to the Bordens, a fecund young couple with a healthy family of boys. Hester retreats to a few isolated acres at the corner of the property and lives with Katherine in an old shepherd’s hut that has a disused well in the yard. She is still a relatively wealthy woman.
Hester is infatuated with Katherine. Their days are filled with music and dancing, inventing stories, dressing up in their new clothes, intricate sewing, and cooking increasingly elaborate meals. The two often picnic on the edge of the well and hear its murmurs and sighs, brought on by the wind. When the two women do not feel like washing up, they throw their dirty dishes into the well. They also fantasize about a princess or a prince and a troll living in the well.
Katherine regularly writes to her friend Joanna, whom she knows from the orphanage. Joanna writes that she has served her time in remand and is now free, leading Katherine to yearn more and more for her friend. Hester sees Joanna as an intruder in the idyllic world she and Katherine have created. She feels that Joanna may threaten her life with Katherine and entice her to leave. However, despite her misgivings, she allows Katherine to have Joanna visit for a week.
Mr. Bird makes an occasional visit to the farm. On one visit, he tells Hester that the Bordens want to buy the farm. He advises Hester that she would be wise to do so, and she eventually agrees, keeping a large amount of cash on the isolated property. Hester plans to take Katherine on a trip to Europe, just like the trip the young Hester took with her German governess, Hilde Herzfeld. First, however, Joanna is coming for a visit. Katherine begins to learn to drive so that she and Joanna will be able to go into town without Hester.
Hester and Katherine attend a party to celebrate the Bordens’ purchase of the farm. Hester takes great pleasure in watching Katherine dance. Mrs. Borden tells Hester that she dresses Katherine in a way that is too young for her. Hester is disturbed by the suggestion that she is dressing Katherine childishly. She also is troubled by her own loss of status with the townspeople, given that she is no longer a landowner. She also is disturbed by Joanna’s impending visit.
Katherine insists on driving home from the party. She hits something with the car on the road near Hester’s house. Hester claims they hit a man and that he is now dead. She urges Katherine to drive close to the well so that she can heave the body into it. She soon discovers that her house has been burglarized and thinks that the dead man may have the money on him. Hester insists that Katherine will have to climb down the well to retrieve the money. In the morning, she leaves Katherine alone as she drives to the store to buy a long rope.
Hester returns with the rope. Katherine tells her that she has been talking to the man in the well and has given him some bedding and food. He wants to marry her, she claims. Hester thinks Katherine is ill; she apparently is fantasizing about the man, whom she calls Jacob. Katherine hands Hester a one-hundred-pound note, which she says she received from Jacob to buy more food. Hester now believes that Katherine had stolen her money, and she thinks that if Katherine is allowed the key to the car, she will rescue the man and leave with him.
Later at night, Hester guards the car keys while both women sleep in the kitchen. Rain breaks the drought. Hester, troubled by her dreams, reveals the next day that when she was fourteen years old, she had discovered Hilde bleeding profusely in the bathroom. Hilde had told Hester to go away and to call her father, but Hester, not wishing to acknowledge that Hilde was miscarrying Mr. Harper’s child, had instead retreated to her bedroom to hide under the covers. This was the last time she saw Hilde, who was driven away early the next morning by her father.
Before dawn, Hester approaches the well and finds that it is filling with water. She thinks she sees a sleek head and also a hand on the final ladder rung. She is inclined to get the rope to try to rescue the man, but Mr. Borden comes by, which stops her. He says that he will have his men put a cover on the well. Hester agrees to the job, and the well is soon covered tightly.
Hester goes to town to see Mr. Bird about her finances. She is shocked to find that he has been ill for some time and is now in a city hospital. His secretary hands her several books with all her financial dealings meticulously recorded. The books include instructions for Hester, should she wish to withdraw her money. Mr. Bird soon dies in the hospital.
Hester and Katherine are getting ready to pick up Joanna from the train station. Hester, still terrified that Katherine will leave with Joanna, uncharacteristically runs out of gasoline and begins to walk to the gas station for more. She leaves Katherine, who is sewing a costume for herself, in the car. Hester is picked up by Mrs. Borden, and one of the Borden children begs to be told a story about a monster. Hester begins her story of the night she and Katherine hit something in the road.
Bibliography
Bird, Delys, and Brenda Walker, eds. Elizabeth Jolley: New Critical Essays. North Ryde, N.S.W.: HarperCollins, 1991. This study of Jolley’s life and works includes many references to The Well from various theoretical perspectives.
Dibble, Brian. Doing Life: A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press, 2008. This biography contains a wealth of information on Jolley and her writing. Dibble was given complete access to Jolley’s private papers and spent a decade producing the work.
Gilbert, Pam. Coming Out from Under: Contemporary Australian Women Writers. Sydney: Pandora Press, 1988. Chapter 3 summarizes early interviews with Jolley and analyzes the novels up to and including The Well.
Ittner, Julia. “Home-Breaking and Making in the Novels of Elizabeth Jolley.” In Homemaking: Women Writers and the Politics and Poetics of Home, edited by Catherine Wiley and Fiona R. Barnes. New York: Garland, 1996. Argues that, like many women writers, Jolley shows how a woman’s ties to home and family can be crippling or liberating.
Jolley, Elizabeth. “Elizabeth Jolley.” Interview by Ray Willbanks. In Australian Voices: Writers and Their Work. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991. Focuses on Jolley’s fiction, including characters, themes, and development, but includes some interesting information on the author’s personal background and how the events of her life influenced her writing.
Lindsay, Elaine. “Elizabeth Jolley’s Catalogue of Consolation.” Southerly 66 (2006): 52-66. Explains the optimistic tone of Jolley’s writings as the product of her belief in the possibility of transformation.
Lurie, Caroline, ed. Central Mischief: Elizabeth Jolley on Writing, Her Past, and Herself. New York: Penguin, 1992. This is an eclectic collection of essays, articles, and talks by Jolley.
McCowan, Sandra. Reading and Writing Elizabeth Jolley: Contemporary Approaches. South Freemantle, W.A.: Freemantle Arts Centre Press, 1995. Examines Jolley’s work, including The Well, from a variety of critical perspectives.
Salzman, Paul. Hopelessly Tangled in Female Arms and Legs: Elizabeth Jolley’s Fiction. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1993. Chapter 2 focuses on the complex symbolism of the well in the novel as a space of repressed desires and female creativity.