In this Biography Workshop Nick Hordern explores the hitherto unknown life of Australian woman Lorraine Murray (1910–2000).  

Arriving in Shanghai in 1933, Lorraine found herself in the sex industry. In 1936 she quit the industry, but struggled to find a new path, until the American author Emily Hahn took her under her wing. Hahn guided Lorraine away from a life of banality and for her part, Lorraine provided Hahn with raw material for her writing – in particular for her 1947 novel Miss Jill.

Lorraine spent WWII in Australia, including a stint as a counter-intelligence informant, during which she spied on the Communist journalist Rupert Lockwood – an episode which featured in the Petrov Royal Commission.

After the war Lorraine joined Emily in England and re-invented herself as a Knightsbridge society matron – a transformation she regarded as personal vindication. She returned to Australia and died in 2000.

Nick Hordern worked in various departments in the Australian Public Service: the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (including two postings in Asia), the Office of National Assessments (now the Office of National Intelligence), and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He then switched to journalism, spending sixteen years with the Australian Financial Review as editor and senior writer. He has published several books, and edited a translation of Liu Yichang’s classic 1963 Hong Kong novel The Drunkard. Shanghai Demimondaine is his most recent work.