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According to David Marr in Patrick White: A Life, Viton encouraged White to begin writing again after he had moved to Castle Hill.

They enjoyed a regular correspondance as she worked on his translations. She was a French translator who persuaded Éditions Gallimard to buy White’s first three books. Patrick White dedicated the novel to Marie Viton, Madame d’Estournelles de Constant. I obviously wasn’t paying attention at nineteen! It was only as I was doing the pre-research for this readalong that I realised it was a Sydney book. Curiously, back then, I had an idea it was set in Adelaide for some reason. I had pretty much read all of Jane Austen by that point, so the drawing room drama was something I was not only familiar with, but enjoyed.

I’m not sure why I found these opening chapters of Voss so off-putting as a nineteen year old.

All it took Patrick White was three carefully placed words. I can just see Rose, the hard-working, impatient, put-upon servant being asked to do something she doesn’t normally have to do on a Sunday, and doing it huffily and with attitude. “There is a man here, miss, asking for your uncle,” said Rose.