When her first novel, Sie warten auf Antwort (They Are Waiting for an Answer), appeared in 1954, Jeannie Ebner immediately won critical acclaim and was praised as the representative of a reborn Austrian literature. This accolade did not translate into sales figures, however, and she was forced to earn a living translating books from English into German. Ebner has refused to participate in the deliberate manufacture of publicity in which some young writers have excelled. In a time when the literary sensation was front-page news, Ebner has relied on the merit of her work and the belief that quality and honesty will ultimately prevail.

Jeannie Ebner was born on 17 November 1918 in Sydney, Australia. Her father, Johann Ebner, the black sheep of his family, had been sent to Australia at an early age to spare his middle-class family political embarrassment. His wife went with him, but she soon had to...