Madeleine St John

Madeleine St John (1941–2006) was an Australian writer. She studied art at the University of Sydney and worked in bookshops, offices and an antiques shop before beginning her literary career. Her first novel, *A Summer in Sydney*, was published in 1993 and remained her only book set in Australia. With her third novel, *The Essence of a Thing*, she became the first Australian author to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.