Author(s): Santosh Saha

Abstract: Dr Anita Heiss’ Tiddas (2014) is one of the best chick lit novels ever written by any Aboriginal writer in Australia. The very name “tiddas” is an Aboriginal term which is used specially by the Northern Australians. So it is a general term used among the Aboriginal people which meant sisters or exceptional women in life. As a grammatical particle the word “tiddas” is the plural form of “tidda”. In most of the novels, written by Dr Anita Heiss, women are the major protagonists. In Avoiding Mr Right (2006) Alice Aigner is the main protagonist who represents the whole Aboriginal society and the condition of the Aboriginal women in the White centric culture. In Not Meeting Mr Right (2007) she confirms that because of the contemporary cultural miserliness and social degradation the Aboriginal women were absolutely exploited. Even they were unable to choose a Mr Right as their permanent life partner in their real life situation. Even the novel Tiddas acclaimed a huge popularity which the author herself admitted in the Author Note of the novel that she was extraordinarily energized about the edition of Tiddas which corresponds with the premiere of the stage adaption of the novel. Even she herself admits that I've still got lots of friends there and family. I've never had a bad time in Canberra, I love it there. It even featured in one of my books, Manhattan Dreaming." However, as far as the name of the novel Tiddas (2024) is concerned it absolutely a story of true friendship and sisterhood. It is the most enjoyable and human story dealing with historical and contemporary Aboriginal issues.

Keywords: Tiddas, Aboriginal, Friendship, Cultural miserliness, Exceptional woman.

Article Info: Received: 19 Sep 2024; Received in revised form: 16 Oct 2024; Accepted: 23 Oct 2024; Available online: 30 Oct 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.95.38