Housewife Superstar is the life story of eccentric Tasmanian domestic goddess, Marjorie Bligh. Marjorie, who died in 2013 at the age of 96, was the author of a library of advice books covering topics including food, household management, health and beauty, poetry, gardening and recycling. 

Marjorie was the go-to-girl for all manner of problem-solving knowing what to do when a goldfish has constipation (feed it Epsom salts), and what to do when you run out of rouge (cut a beetroot in half and slap it on your cheeks). Housewife Superstar is an illuminating look at a true Australian treasure.

“Simultaneously traditional and off-beat, this eccentric little biography suits its subject.”

“It would have been easy to send up [Marjorie’s] unwitting kitsch. Indeed, Housewife Superstar was partly inspired by rumours that Bligh was the inspiration for Dame Edna. But Wood does much better than that. The Edna connection proves to be a mere after-dinner mint to the hearty casserole of Bligh’s experiences, which her biographer uses to illuminate the status of women and ‘women’s work’ in Australia, as well as the relationship between domestic and public life.”