Author Biography

Janet Frame is one of New Zealand's greatest writers. Born in Dunedin in 1924, she published twenty-one books in her lifetime and several posthumously. Her autobiographical work An Angel at My Table was made into a film by Jane Campion in 1990. Janet Frame died in 2004.

Review

'Owls Do Cry glows with the inner light of (Frame's) human awareness—a cool flame that neither cauterises nor heals but in some mystic ways purifies, substituting an essential beauty for superficial pain and squalor.' * Sunday Herald Tribune *
'When I first read it at 14, the same age as Daphne is in the novel...her dark eloquent song captured my heart.' * Jane Campion *
'Owls Do Cry is a devastating reflection on the character of conventional society and the dangers that await those who reject its narrowness...It is also a vivid social document, capturing the language and texture of the postwar period. It is a heartbreaking evocation of childhood and a child's vision of the world; and not least, it is a work of considerable lyrical beauty.' * Irish Times *
'The first great New Zealand novel and a modernist masterpiece...Owls Do Cry remains innovative and relevant. Frame's idiosyncratic and startlingly visual style means that the book's immense power to unnerve, astonish and impress endures.' * Guardian *

Promotional

* Extract from Margaret Drabble's introduction to be placed in a major national newspaper * Review coverage in all major broadsheets in Australia and New Zealand * Review coverage in literary magazines and journals such as the Listener and Australian Book Review * Online review coverage * Radio review coverage on Radio National's Books & Arts Daily and Radio New Zealand * Reading copies available to the trade * Advertisements in literary and current affairs publications such as ABR, NZ Books and the Big Issue, and on their associated websites * Promotions and giveaways with targeted subscriber groups, including book lovers such as CAE, Good Reading and NZ Book Council * Featured in Text newsletters and website

Prizes

Winner of NZ Literary Fund Award for Achievement 1958

Review Quote

' Owls Do Cry glows with the inner light of (Frame's) human awareness--a cool flame that neither cauterises nor heals but in some mystic ways purifies, substituting an essential beauty for superficial pain and squalor.'

Description for Sales People

The unforgettable first novel by celebrated author of An Angel at My Table and In the Memorial Room Owls Do Cry created a sensation when it was first published in New Zealand in 1957, with some critics calling it the country's first great novel. It has never been out of print. A deeply moving portrait of a poverty-stricken family torn apart by tragedy and mental illness A dark, eloquent and poetic novel, Owls Do Cry is a treat for existing Frame fans and those new to her work 'Pictures of great treasure in the midst of sadness and waste haunted me and I began to think, in fiction, of a childhood, home life, hospital life, using people known to me as a base for the main characters and inventing minor characters. For Daphne I chose a sensitive, poetic frail person, who, I hoped, would give depth to inner worlds and perhaps a clearer, at least an individual, perception of outer worlds.' Janet Frame on Owls Do Cry Janet Frame died in 2004 but remains New Zealand's most famous and beloved author The Text Classics edition comes with a new introduction by Margaret Drabble

Details