Owls Do Cry Av Janet Frame

<p><b><i>''Owls Do Cry </i>remains innovative and relevant'' <i>GUARDIAN </i></b><br><br><b>''Janet Frame was a unique and troubled soul whose luminous words are the more precious'' HILARY MANTEL</b><br><br><b>''Her dark, eloquent song captured my heart '' JANE CAMPION</b><br><br><i>Owls Do Cry </i>is the story of the Withers family: Francie, soon to leave school to start work at the woollen mills; Toby, whose days are marred by the velvet cloak of epilepsy; Chicks, the baby of the family; and Daphne, whose rich, poetic imagination condemns her to a life in institutions.<br><br>It is one of the classics of New Zealand literature and has remained in print continuously for fifty years. A fiftieth anniversary edition was published in 2007.<br><br>Owls Do Cry is Janet Frame''s first novel. She describes her idea behind it in the second volume of her autobiography:<br><br><i>''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 main characters, and inventing minor characters''</i><br><br>Regarded by many as one of the best New Zealand novels published, Owls Do Cry forms a loose trilogy with her two subsequent novels, Faces in the Water and The Edge of the Alphabet.</p>